Optimizing Corn-Based Layer Feed Pellet Quality: A Hongyang Ring Die Pellet Mill Case Study from Colombia

Executive Summary

Colombia’s poultry sector produced a record 19.5 billion eggs in 2025, with per capita consumption reaching an all-time high of 366 eggs per year, according to the National Federation of Poultry Producers (FENAVI). The country’s animal feed industry surpassed 13.2 million tons in the same year, with poultry accounting for 56.1% of total output — approximately 7.4 million tons. Nearly all macro-ingredients — 98.9% — are imported from the United States, making corn the predominant raw material at 69.3% of formulations.

This case study examines how Alimentos NutriAvícola SAS, a regional layer feed manufacturer serving egg producers across Colombia’s Cundinamarca-Boyacá corridor, resolved persistent pellet quality issues by deploying Liyang Hongyang Feed Machinery’s ring die pellet mill technology with a customized compression ratio optimized for corn-based layer formulations.

Colombia’s Poultry Feed Landscape

Colombia’s poultry sector has experienced sustained structural growth. Between 2014 and 2025, chicken consumption increased 29%, while egg consumption climbed from approximately 240 to 366 units per capita — positioning Colombia among the world’s leading egg-consuming nations. The sector operates in over 650 municipalities and generates an estimated 27 trillion Colombian pesos in annual economic value.

The Cundinamarca-Boyacá corridor, centered around Bogotá’s processing infrastructure, hosts the country’s densest concentration of integrated poultry operations. Feed manufacturers in this region serve both large integrators and independent egg producers, with layer rations representing a substantial portion of daily output. FENAVI data for January through July 2025 showed layer chick placements increasing from 32.6 million to 34.5 million, a 5.7% year-over-year rise, signaling continued expansion in the egg subsector.

Colombian layer feed formulations are predominantly corn-soybean based. Corn constitutes roughly 60% of the ration, with soybean meal at 20%, supplemented by rice bran, calcium carbonate (critical for eggshell formation), and vitamin-mineral premixes. Unlike wheat-based diets common in European poultry production, corn-based formulations present specific pelleting challenges. Corn contains less gluten-forming protein than wheat, resulting in reduced natural binding during conditioning and compression. This makes pellet durability — measured by the Pellet Durability Index (PDI) — inherently more difficult to achieve without careful equipment specification.

The Pellet Quality Challenge

Alimentos NutriAvícola SAS operates a mid-capacity feed mill near Duitama, Boyacá, supplying approximately 2,800 tonnes of layer feed monthly to a network of over 40 egg producers in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense region. The mill historically produced layer feed in mash form, which most customers accepted for open-house and floor-feeding systems.

As the Colombian egg sector matured — driven partly by the 2025 approval of shell egg exports to the United States market — several of the mill’s larger customers began transitioning to automated feeding systems in environmentally controlled layer houses. These systems require pelleted feed to function efficiently: mash feed creates bridging in auger systems, generates excessive dust that clogs ventilation filters, and leads to selective feeding where birds pick out preferred particles while leaving behind vitamin and mineral fines.

The mill’s existing pelleting line, equipped with a belt-driven pellet mill using standard ring die specifications, produced inconsistent results with the corn-based layer formulations:

• Variable PDI: Pellet durability fluctuated between 88% and 92%, below the 94% threshold that automated feeding systems require for reliable operation.
• High fines content: Post-cooling sieving consistently returned 4-6% fines, which had to be re-processed, reducing effective throughput and increasing energy cost per tonne.
• Inconsistent hardness: Batch-to-batch pellet hardness variation led to customer complaints — some loads arrived with acceptable pellet integrity, while others showed significant breakage after the 2-3 hour truck journey from Duitama to farms in the Sabana de Bogotá.
• Throughput limitations: The belt-drive system experienced slippage under variable load conditions, particularly when batch-to-batch moisture content differences altered the mixture’s flow characteristics through the conditioner.

Six customers representing approximately 35% of monthly volume indicated they would seek alternative suppliers if pellet quality did not improve within a quarter.

Hongyang’s Ring Die Pellet Mill Solution

The mill’s management evaluated proposals from three international equipment suppliers before selecting Liyang Hongyang Feed Machinery Co., Ltd. Founded in 2006, Hongyang specializes in ring die and pellet mill manufacturing, with an in-house ring die production facility that enables precise customization of compression ratios, die hole geometry, and material specifications.

Equipment Configuration

Hongyang recommended the HYPM 508 ring die pellet mill, featuring a gear-driven transmission system with precision-ground helical gears. The gear drive was a critical differentiator: unlike the existing belt-driven system, it maintains consistent torque delivery regardless of batch-to-batch formulation variations, eliminating slippage during high-moisture or high-fat recipe runs.

Ring Die Customization for Corn-Based Layer Formulations

The core technical intervention centered on ring die specification. Hongyang’s engineering team analyzed the customer’s exact layer formulation — 60% corn, 20% soybean meal, 8% rice bran, 7% calcium carbonate, 5% premix — and calculated the optimal compression ratio to compensate for the lower natural binding properties of corn relative to wheat.

Compression Ratio: A ratio of 1:11 was selected for the 3.0 mm die and 1:10 for the 4.0 mm die. These values sit at the higher end of the standard poultry range (1:8 to 1:14), providing the additional compression time needed for corn-based mashes to achieve proper compaction. The thicker effective length ensures that the starch gelatinization achieved during steam conditioning (targeting 80-85°C mash temperature) is locked into the pellet structure before exiting the die.

Die Hole Design: Inlet conical geometry was specified with a 60-degree entry angle to optimize material flow into the compression channel. This reduces the specific energy consumption per tonne while maintaining consistent pellet density across all die holes. Full-automatic CNC gun drilling machines with German-imported drill bits ensured precise hole geometry and consistent surface finish — a detail that directly affects pellet uniformity and die wear characteristics.

Material and Hardness: The ring die was manufactured from high-chromium alloy steel (20CrMnTi equivalent) processed through Hongyang’s vacuum hardening treatment, achieving surface hardness of HRC 60-62 with a hardened layer depth of 1.2-1.5 mm. For corn-based formulations containing calcium carbonate at 7% — a moderately abrasive ingredient — this hardness specification targets a die service life of 5,000-7,000 tonnes between replacements.

On-Site Implementation

Hongyang dispatched a senior commissioning engineer to the Duitama facility. The three-day commissioning process included:

1. Throughput calibration using the customer’s actual layer formulation rather than reference materials
2. Steam conditioning parameter adjustment to achieve optimal gelatinization temperature (82°C) while preserving heat-sensitive vitamin content
3. Roller gap fine-tuning to achieve uniform material distribution across the full die face — verified by thermal imaging to confirm consistent die temperature
4. A controlled 48-hour break-in run to stabilize pellet quality metrics before transitioning to full production

Production Results

Post-commissioning data collected over a 60-day stabilization period demonstrated measurable improvements across all key pellet quality indicators:

The PDI improvement to 95-97% eliminated the No. 1 source of customer dissatisfaction. Egg producers using automated feeding systems reported no further instances of auger bridging or selective feeding. The reduction in fines from 4-6% to below 1.5% translated directly to reduced re-processing costs and approximately 3% higher effective yield from each production batch.

Throughput increased by approximately 45% — from 3.8 to 5.5 tonnes per hour — without additional motor capacity. This gain was attributed to the gear drive’s consistent torque delivery eliminating the intermittent speed drops that had throttled the belt-driven system, combined with the optimized ring die geometry reducing extrusion resistance.

Customer Feedback and Business Impact

Within the first quarter of operation with the new pelleting line, the six customers who had previously threatened to leave renewed their supply contracts. Two additional egg producers — one operating a 120,000-bird layer facility in the Sabana de Bogotá — approached NutriAvícola about supply agreements after hearing about the improved pellet quality from neighboring farms.

The mill’s general manager reported that the investment achieved full payback within an estimated 14 months, driven by three factors: elimination of customer attrition risk (which had threatened 35% of monthly volume), reduced energy cost per tonne (22 vs. 28 kWh), and the ability to serve the growing automated-feeding segment of Colombia’s layer industry.

Conclusion

Colombia’s layer sector is at an inflection point. Record egg production, new export market access, and the transition from manual to automated feeding systems are raising the technical bar for feed manufacturers. Pellet quality — once a secondary consideration when most customers used mash feed — has become a competitive differentiator.

This case demonstrates that for corn-based layer formulations, ring die specification is not a catalog selection exercise but an engineering calculation. The compression ratio, die hole geometry, and material hardness must be matched precisely to the specific formulation to achieve consistent, transport-durable pellets. Gear-driven transmission systems provide meaningful advantages over belt-driven alternatives in maintaining throughput stability under the variable load conditions inherent in commercial feed production.

Liyang Hongyang Feed Machinery’s ability to customize ring dies to formulation-specific parameters — supported by in-house manufacturing with CNC precision and vacuum hardening treatment — enabled a mid-sized Colombian feed mill to transform pellet quality from a liability into a competitive asset.