15-20T/H Grass Alfalfa Pellet Production Line in USA

The importance of alfalfa industry in American agriculture

Alfalfa is known as the "Queen of Grass" and is one of the four most widely planted crops in the United States, second only to corn, wheat and soybeans. According to rough statistics, the annual output value of alfalfa hay is 8.1 billion US dollars.

The alfalfa planting area for hay production in the United States is 9.558 million hectares, with an average hay yield of 7.5 tons/hectare, and each ton of alfalfa hay is worth about 102.5 US dollars. The export of alfalfa meal and square bales earns 49.4 million US dollars each year.

The United States has 15.066 million hectares of hay production grassland mixed with alfalfa and other grasses or legumes, and the total area of hay production grassland including single-sown alfalfa is 2450.3 hectares, creating an output value of about 13.4 billion US dollars. Together with the output value of other forages, the total planting area and output value of forage grass are equivalent to the sum of wheat and soybeans.

This data is enough to show the importance of the alfalfa industry and alfalfa pellet processing industry in American agriculture. Let's introduce this large grass alfalfa feed pellet plant in United States project in detail.

Construction content and scale

The alfalfa pellet production line we designed for customers is suitable for all types of forage and straw raw materials, and can process roughage pellets suitable for all types of ruminants and livestock. The main engineering content and scale of the 15-20t/h grass alfalfa pellet production line in USA project are shown in the table below:

Product plan

The specific product plan of this 15-20t/h grass alfalfa pellet production line in USA project is detailed in the table below:

Project product quality standards

The preparation and quality requirements of alfalfa pellet feed for this 15-20t/h grass alfalfa pellet production line in USA project:

Main equipment usage

The main production equipment of this 15-20t/h grass alfalfa pellet production line in USA project is shown in the table below:

Production equipment capacity matching analysis

The 15-20t/h grass alfalfa pellet production line in USA project plans to build a large-scale forage pellet feed line with an annual output of 120,000 tons of forage pellet feed.

Among them, the production capacity of 8 batching scales is 2.25t/h, the production capacity of 4 single-axis ribbon mixers is 4.5t/h, the production capacity of 12 pelletizers is 1.5t/h, the production capacity of 6 flap coolers is 3t/h, the production capacity of 6 rotary grading screens is 3t/h, the packaging capacity of 6 belt double-bucket packaging scales is 3t/h, and the palletizing capacity of 2 manipulator stacking systems is 9t/h.

If the working time is 24h/d and 300d/a, the production capacity of the project under full load can reach 432t per day and 129,600t per year, which can meet the production demand of 120,000 tons of forage pellet feed per year.

Main raw and auxiliary material consumption

The main raw and auxiliary material consumption of the grass alfalfa pellet plant in United States project is detailed in the table below:

Material balance sheet for grass alfalfa feed production line

USA Alfalfa pellet feed production Process design

The main raw material of this customer is alfalfa hay, which does not need to be dried. And the customer already has a bale breaker. When purchasing alfalfa in bundles, the customer will first break the bales and then enter the following standard process flow.

1. Feeding: It is mainly to put various raw materials into the feeding port and transport them to the corresponding silos to be crushed and batching through the conveying equipment.
2. Primary screening: The raw materials can be roughly divided into two major types: those that need to be crushed and those that do not need to be crushed. The materials that need to be crushed are transported to the primary screening for cleaning and then transported to the crushing bin.
3. Crushing: The auxiliary materials that need to be crushed are crushed to a suitable fineness by the hammer-type alfalfa crusher and then transported to the batching bin in a closed manner.
4. Batching and mixing: Batching means batching several materials in a batching scale (the batching process is fully automatic according to the formula set in the computer), and mixing means conveying the prepared materials in the batching scale to a single-shaft ribbon mixer in a closed manner (adding various small materials and various liquids as needed during the mixing process) to mix the various materials evenly. The mixed materials are conveyed to the silo to be pelletized in a closed manner through a conveying device.
5. Granulation and cooling: The mixed materials are matured by the modulator above the alfalfa pellet machine (maturation means adding an appropriate amount of steam to the materials to soften and heat the materials to remove some of the germs in the materials), and the matured materials are sealed into the cavity of the grass pellet machine. In the cavity, the materials are squeezed by the rollers and squeezed out of the material holes of the ring die to become pellet feed; after the materials have been pressed into pellet feed by the alfalfa grass pellet making machine, they are relatively stable. At this time, the temperature of the pellet feed needs to be lowered to room temperature for subsequent screening and packaging.
6. Grading screen and packaging: The cooled pellet feed is conveyed to the rotary grading screen through a lifting and sealing mechanism. The rotary grading screen removes the powder and large pieces in the pellet feed through the rotation effect. The qualified pellet feed is screened out and enters the silo to be packaged and the bulk silo. The materials in the silo to be packaged are packaged according to the required packaging size and kilograms using a packaging scale. The packaged packages are transported to the robot stacking system through a conveyor. The products in the bulk silo can be transported to the farm by a bulk truck and directly fed to the cows.
7. Palletizing and finished products: The fully automatic robot stacks the packaged materials evenly according to the size of the pallet. Finally, the workers use a forklift to shovel the pallets that have been stacked to the finished product warehouse and place them neatly.

General layout

In this 15-20t/h grass alfalfa pellet production line in USA project, the main entrance of the factory is located on the south side. From south to north, the office building, restaurant, transit warehouse, production workshop, etc. are arranged in sequence. The plane layout strives to make the production line short and straight under the premise of meeting the production process and transportation requirements.

Taking into account the production needs, fire prevention and sanitation needs, taking into account production management, convenient transportation and other factors, the layout is combined with the natural conditions such as the plant topography, geology, and meteorology, and the layout is relatively reasonable.

Sales market of American alfalfa

The sales market of American alfalfa is mainly domestic, with 2.5 million tons exported to China, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, South Korea and other countries and regions each year, accounting for only 2% of its total production.

However, the exported alfalfa mainly comes from seven Pacific West Coast states, namely California, Washington, Idawa, Utah, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona, and the exported alfalfa accounts for about 19% of the total production of the seven states.

From the perspective of the American alfalfa market structure, the alfalfa industry is the basic industry of the American herbivorous livestock breeding industry, and the hay industry supports the healthy and safe animal husbandry in the United States. The export of alfalfa is only a small agricultural product subject, which has little impact on the American alfalfa industry.

In addition to self-use, the alfalfa pellets processed by this project are also sold in the United States and not exported.

Overview of the development of alfalfa pellets market and market analysis in major regions

The global alfalfa pellet market shows a steady growth trend. Affected by global climate change and the reduction of available agricultural land, the demand for alfalfa, as a cold-resistant, drought-resistant, adaptable and easy-to-grow feed crop, continues to rise.

According to authoritative data statistics, in 2023, the total sales volume of alfalfa pellets in the world will reach about 17.841 million tons, and the total market revenue will be about US$5.178 billion.

In the next few years, with the growth of the global middle-class population and the acceleration of urbanization, people's demand for animal protein will continue to increase, which will further promote the development of the alfalfa pellet market.

At the same time, with the continuous advancement of science and technology, the cultivation technology of alfalfa will be further improved, thereby increasing yield and quality to meet market demand. It is estimated that by 2025, the global alfalfa pellet market revenue will increase to US$5.303 billion.

Judging from the development of various regions, the North American and European markets are relatively mature and demand is stable. Research shows that North America is the largest consumer market for alfalfa pellets in the world, with sales of approximately 10.355 million tons in 2023, accounting for approximately 57.11% of the global total sales.

In addition, the alfalfa pellet market in the Asia-Pacific region is growing rapidly, mainly due to the rapid development of animal husbandry in the region, a large population and high demand.

Analysis of the development trend of the global alfalfa pellet industry

Green and environmental protection: With the increase in global environmental awareness, green and environmental protection has become an important trend in the alfalfa pellet market.

Planting alfalfa can reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides and reduce environmental pollution. Therefore, many countries are actively promoting alfalfa planting to achieve green development of agriculture.

With the advancement of science and technology, intelligent planting technology has gradually been applied to the planting of alfalfa. Through intelligent control, precise regulation of environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light can be achieved to improve the yield and quality of alfalfa. In the future, intelligent planting will become an important development direction of the alfalfa industry.

The prospect of establishing a grass alfalfa pellet production line in USA and developing an alfalfa pellet processing business is obvious. Whether you want to develop a large-scale alfalfa pellet processing business or a small-scale alfalfa pellet processing business, or your raw materials are other forage grasses or straw raw materials, RICHI MACHINERY can handle it.

We can undertake the construction of alfalfa pellet production line projects with an output of more than 0.6 tons per hour, and have established alfalfa pellet production line projects in more than 50 countries around the world, and have undertaken various grass pellet and straw pellet production line projects in more than 80 countries.

No matter what your raw material is, our experience and expertise are sufficient to support the construction of all types of pellet projects. Contact RICHI MACHINERY at any time to get a customized pellet production line solution and a full set of equipment quotes!