Executive Summary
Granja Horizonte Nutricao Animal Ltda., a medium-scale commercial feed mill in Cascavel, western Parana state, Brazil, supplies pelleted broiler feed to approximately 210 contract growers within a 120 km radius. In early 2025 the company replaced an aging 7 t/h pelleting line with a Hongyang SZLH420 ring die pellet mill and a customized vacuum-hardened ring die. Over 12 months of production data, the mill achieved a stable output of 8 t/h on a standard corn–soybean meal broiler diet, a pellet durability index (PDI) of 96.2–96.8% on the Holmen NHP100 tester, fines below 2% at the bagging scale, and a ring die service life beyond 6,500 hours. This article documents the background, engineering decisions, and measured results of the upgrade, and explains why die customization and responsive technical support mattered as much as machine horsepower in Brazil’s demanding feed market.
Industry Background
Brazil is the world’s second-largest chicken meat producer and the largest exporter. According to the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA), the country produced 15.0 million metric tons of chicken meat in 2024 and exported 5.3 million tons, a 3.1% year-on-year increase; 2025 output was projected at 15.3 million tons with exports reaching 5.4 million tons. Domestic per-capita chicken consumption reached 45.6 kg in 2024, among the highest in the world.
This scale of poultry production drives a correspondingly large feed industry. The Brazilian Feed Industry Union (Sindiracoes) reported that national feed output reached 88.3 million tons in 2024, up 2.4% from the previous year, of which poultry feed accounted for approximately 44.7 million tons, a 3.1% increase. The Alltech Agri-Food Outlook 2025 placed Brazil’s 2024 feed production at 86.6 million tonnes, keeping the country among the world’s top three producers.
Because corn and soybean meal together represent roughly 90% of poultry feed ingredient costs in Brazil, and because the main grain belts overlap with the southern poultry cluster of Parana, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, feed manufacturing efficiency is a direct determinant of competitiveness. In this environment, a mid-sized feed mill must deliver consistent pellet quality not only to protect feed conversion ratios on high-performance broiler genetics, but also to justify its position against vertically integrated competitors such as BRF and JBS. Pelleting is the stage where formulation work is either preserved or destroyed, and the ring die is the component that most directly controls pellet durability, throughput stability, and energy consumption per tonne.
Problem Analysis
Granja Horizonte operates a 90,000-tonne-per-year feed plant built around two pelleting lines. The primary line, installed in 2016, used a belt-driven pellet mill with an imported OEM ring die. By late 2024 the operations team led by plant manager Ricardo Almeida had documented a pattern familiar to many regional mills:
Holmen PDI fluctuated between 88% and 91%, below the 95% threshold. Fines reached 6–8% during humid summer months, eroding margins.
Specific energy consumption averaged 36–39 kWh/t, 10% above budget. Motor current spikes occurred frequently.
OEM die delivered only 3,200 hours. High replacement costs (USD 11,500/die) added USD 3.5 per tonne of feed.
Original supplier had no local presence. Remote diagnosis took weeks, leaving the mill to trial-and-error adjustments.
The Solution
In January 2025, Hongyang Feed Machinery’s export engineering team conducted a structured remote assessment. Based on daily throughput logs and motor records, Hongyang specified an SZLH420 ring die pellet mill and a custom-engineered ring die:
Measured Results (12-Month Period)
Pellet quality: Holmen PDI stabilized at 96.2–96.8%, up from 88–91%. Fines at the bagging scale dropped to 1.5–2%, eliminating the need for re-screening and reducing dust load.
Throughput and stability: The SZLH420 delivered a consistent 7.8–8.3 t/h, a 14% capacity increase over the old line achieved with lower installed motor power per tonne.
Die longevity: Projected service life exceeds 7,000 hours — more than double the previous die’s 3,200 hours. Die hole diameter growth measured less than 0.06 mm after 5,900 hours.
Operational stability: Unplanned downtime fell from 14 hours per month to fewer than 4 hours. The mill now runs a single weekly die inspection routine.
Engineering Insights
Compression ratio is formulation-specific: The 1:9.5 ratio was calculated based on starch content, fat level, fiber composition, and seasonal moisture variability. Selecting the ratio requires actual formulation data rather than catalog options.
Case depth vs. Surface hardness: For abrasive corn-based diets, the vacuum-quenched 1.2–1.5 mm hardened layer is what converts a good die into an economical one by maintaining hole-wall friction for thousands of hours.
Transmission and Support: Gear-driven designs remove belt-slippage variability. Furthermore, for mills far from equipment centers, after-sales responsiveness is a critical production planning input.
Sources
- ABPA (Brazilian Animal Protein Association), 2024 Poultry and Pork Production, Consumption and Export Report, Sao Paulo, December 2024.
- ABPA Annual Report 2025, chicken production and export statistics.
- Sindiracoes (Brazilian Feed Industry Union), 2024 national feed production data: 88.3 million tons, +2.4% YoY; poultry feed 44.7 million tons, +3.1%.
- Alltech Agri-Food Outlook 2025: Brazil produced 86.6 million tonnes of feed in 2024.
- Hongyang Feed Machinery, SZLH420 Ring Die Pellet Mill specifications. https://www.ringdies.com/
Post time: Aug-13-2026
