In fertilizer production, production line interruptions are one of the most troublesome issues for companies. Frequent downtime of the pulverizing equipment causes delays in upstream and downstream processes (such as raw material pretreatment and subsequent granulation), directly reducing daily production capacity. However, the horizontal crusher, with its targeted design, serves as a “stabilizer” for ensuring continuous production line operation. Its core advantages are concentrated in three aspects.

1. Anti-clogging Design Reduces Downtime for Cleaning

To address the problem of caking and clogging of fertilizer raw materials (especially high-humidity fermented materials and fibrous materials), high-quality horizontal crushers feature a “tilted discharge chamber + self-cleaning impeller” structure. The tilted chamber accelerates material discharge and prevents accumulation. Elastic scrapers at the end of the impellers scrape residual material off the chamber walls as they rotate, eliminating the need for frequent downtime for cleaning.

2. Feeding and Production Line Compatibility

It can be used with automatic feeding devices (such as belt conveyors and screw feeders). Frequency conversion controls the feed speed to match the raw material conveying and pelletizing process, preventing “overfeeding and machine blockage” or “overfeeding and idling.”

3. Durability Reduces Failure Frequency

To address the abrasive nature of fertilizer raw materials (such as minerals), the chamber wall is constructed of a wear-resistant alloy, extending its average service life by two times that of ordinary materials. The device also features an overload protection device. If the chamber is overloaded, the motor automatically shuts off, preventing extended downtime due to component damage. This design ensures “less downtime, more operation” for the organic fertilizer production line.

NPK fertilizer production isn’t a fixed process; it’s a dynamic system deeply integrated with the agricultural production cycle. Two to three months before spring plowing, NPK fertilizer production lines should prioritize production of high-nitrogen formulas (such as 25-10-10) to meet the nutritional needs of seedling crops like wheat and corn. During this period, granulation production should be adjusted to increase daily production capacity by 30%, while also stockpiling raw materials to avoid supply interruptions during the peak spring plowing season.

During the summer fruit and vegetable bulking season, NPK fertilizer production lines must quickly switch to high-potassium formulas (such as 15-10-25). A modular silo design allows for formula conversion within four hours, and a low-temperature granulation process (controlled at 55-60°C) is used to minimize potassium loss.

After the autumn harvest, to meet soil maintenance needs during the fallow period, NPK fertilizer production lines will increase the proportion of slow-release NPK products containing humic acid. This requires extending the coating process and adjusting the nutrient release cycle from 30 days to 90 days.

This dynamic synergy requires the establishment of a “farming cycle-production plan” linkage mechanism. By analyzing historical planting data to predict demand, this ensures that fertilizer supply is precisely matched to crop nutrient absorption points, avoiding production capacity waste and ensuring agricultural production efficiency.

Ecological agriculture’s requirements for “no chemical additives” and “full-cycle composting” of fertilizers are driving targeted adjustments to organic fertilizer production lines.

In ecological farming, the use of chemical regulators is prohibited. Organic fertilizer production lines must optimize the microbial community structure to achieve natural composting of raw materials. For example, complex microbial agents can be used instead of traditional chemical ripening agents to ensure that no exogenous pollutants are introduced during the fermentation process.

At the same time, ecological agriculture emphasizes the “cultivation-livestock cycle.” Organic fertilizer production lines must adapt to a variety of ecological raw materials, such as rice husks and mushroom residues, using precise pulverization and mixing processes to ensure balanced nutrient release.

Furthermore, to meet the demand for “light and simplified fertilization” in ecological farming, end-of-line production lines must enhance granulation and slow-release technologies to adapt fertilizers to various ecological farming scenarios, such as drip irrigation and broadcasting, thus achieving a closed loop of “fertilization-growth-soil maintenance.”

At present, the application rate of products of this type of organic fertilizer production line adapted to ecological agriculture in ecological fruit and vegetable planting has increased by 35% compared with ordinary production lines. After some ecological tea gardens adopted this type of fertilizer, the tea polyphenol content in tea increased by an average of 8%, and the pass rate of pesticide residue detection remained at 100%, further verifying the adaptability of the production line to ecological planting.

New type organic fertilizer granulators are more flexible than traditional models. Whether it’s straw, manure, mushroom residue, or distiller’s grains, they can be adapted with minimal adjustments without having to replace equipment.

If using fermented straw for granulation, this raw material is fibrous and somewhat loose, making it difficult to produce compact pellets. Add 5%-8% bentonite (a common binder) to the raw material, mix it thoroughly before feeding it into the new type organic fertilizer granulator, and increase the roller pressure. This will ensure compact pellets without breaking them up and damaging the organic matter in the straw.

For wet, sticky raw materials like chicken manure and pig manure, the biggest concern is clogging the granulator. Instead of adding too much binder, add about 10% dry mushroom residue to reduce moisture. Also, slow the new type organic fertilizer granulator’s feed rate to allow the raw material to fully form in the granulation chamber. The resulting pellets are smooth and less likely to stick to the machine.
When it comes to fine raw materials such as mushroom residue and wine lees, they have moderate viscosity and do not require additional adhesives, which saves materials and time.

Organic fertilizer raw materials vary greatly, such as straw, chicken manure, mushroom residue, and distiller’s grains, and their properties can vary greatly. When using a windrow compost turner, a few adjustments can ensure smoother fermentation.

If you’re turning dry straw, it’s fluffy and porous, but it’s prone to “lifting.” The blades of a windrow compost turner tend to only scrape the surface, failing to thoroughly turn the bottom. In this case, you can steepen the blade angle to allow it to penetrate deeper into the pile. At the same time, slow down the compost turner’s speed to 2-3 kilometers per hour. This ensures that both the top and bottom of the straw pile are turned loosely, breaking up any large clumps and facilitating subsequent fermentation.

If you’re turning wet, sticky raw materials like chicken manure and pig manure, they tend to clump and stick to the blades, and the pile may become compacted after turning. At this time, the blade angle should be adjusted to a gentler angle to reduce sticking, and the forward speed can be increased slightly to allow the turned manure pile to quickly disperse and breathe. Additionally, before turning the pile, sprinkle some dry sawdust on the surface. This will automatically mix the material as the compost turner turns, reducing moisture and preventing clumping.

When turning fine ingredients like mushroom residue and distiller’s grains, the main concern is “missing” them. If the pile is too loose, they can easily leak through the gaps between the blades. By reducing the blade spacing on the windrow compost turner and maintaining a moderate speed, the fine ingredients can be turned over, ensuring even mixing and accelerating fermentation by about 10 days.

The core quality indicator of BB fertilizer (blended fertilizer) is nutrient uniformity, and the mixing performance of the BB fertilizer mixer directly determines the quality of the final product. This process is influenced by several key factors and requires targeted control.

First, the raw material pretreatment stage. BB fertilizer raw materials are mostly nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium single granular fertilizers or powdered organic fertilizers. If the raw material particle size varies greatly, stratification due to different densities is likely to occur. Screening is required to control the raw material particle size deviation to within 2mm. At the same time, the raw material moisture content must be maintained at a stable 12%-15%. Too high a moisture content can easily cause the particles to stick together, while too low a moisture content can cause the powdered raw material to generate dust.

Second, the mixing parameter setting is important. The speed of the BB fertilizer mixer should be adjusted according to the raw material type. When mixing granular fertilizer, the speed can be set to 15-20 rpm to avoid particle collision and breakage caused by high speed. When mixing raw materials containing powder, the speed can be increased to 20-25 rpm. The mixing time also needs to be controlled. Typically, 8-12 minutes per mixing cycle is sufficient. Too short a time will result in uneven mixing, while too long a time can easily cause excessive friction and loss of the raw materials.

Finally, the compatibility of the equipment structure is important. The impeller design of the BB fertilizer mixer must balance convection and shearing. If the raw materials contain a small amount of fiber (such as when adding straw powder to organic fertilizer), impellers with scraping functions should be used to prevent the raw materials from adhering to the cylinder walls. The cylinder should avoid right angles and instead use rounded transitions to reduce dead corners where raw materials accumulate, ensuring that every portion of the raw materials is mixed and ensuring uniformity from a structural perspective.

In fertilizer production, ring die granulators must adjust core parameters based on the characteristics of different raw materials, such as organic fertilizer, compound fertilizer, and slow-release fertilizer, to ensure optimal granulation.

For organic fertilizers, whose raw materials often contain fiber components such as straw and fermented manure, ring die granulators require large-aperture ring dies (typically 8-12mm) and anti-entanglement rollers to prevent fiber entanglement and pelletizing stalls. Furthermore, the steam injection time should be appropriately extended during the conditioning stage to enhance the viscosity of the fiber raw material.

If producing bio-organic fertilizers containing live bacteria, a rapid cooling device should be added after granulation to reduce the pellet temperature to below 35°C to prevent high temperatures from killing the live bacteria.

Compound fertilizer raw materials are primarily nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium powders, which are prone to moisture absorption and agglomeration. Therefore, granulators require ring dies made of wear-resistant materials (such as alloy steel) to minimize wear on the die holes, and the roller pressure must be precisely controlled. Excessive pressure can cause components like nitrate nitrogen in the raw materials to decompose and be lost due to the high extrusion temperature, while too little pressure can cause the granules to become loose.

Slow-release fertilizers, however, contain special ingredients like coating agents, so the ring die granulator requires a lower extrusion temperature (below 30°C). This is usually achieved by reducing the roller speed (from 30 rpm to 20 rpm) and adding a cooling device to prevent high temperatures from damaging the slow-release coating structure and ensure the fertilizer’s slow-release effect.

In industrial production, directly stacking high-temperature materials after processing can easily lead to problems such as agglomeration and deterioration. Drum fertilizer coolers are key equipment for addressing this problem. So how do they achieve efficient cooling? Today, we’ll examine their core operating principles from both a structural and process perspective.

The core structure of a drum fertilizer cooler consists of an inclined drum body, a transmission system, a cooling system, and a discharge mechanism. During operation, hot materials enter through the feed port at the upper end of the drum. The transmission system drives the drum to slowly rotate, causing the materials to continuously tumble and move forward within the drum as it rotates.

The cooling system achieves cooling through two methods: one is a cooling jacket installed on the drum shell, through which cold water or air flows, removing heat from the material through heat conduction; the other is a direct flow of low-temperature gas into the drum. The gas fully contacts the hot material, absorbing heat through heat exchange, and is then discharged through the exhaust port. Throughout the entire process, the material is tumbled to ensure uniform heating and avoid incomplete cooling. The drum fertilizer cooler’s tilt angle and rotational speed control the material’s residence time, allowing for flexible adjustment based on the cooling requirements of different materials.

Finally, the cooled material is discharged from the discharge port at the lower end of the drum, completing the cooling process. Whether it’s granular, powdered, or small chunks, this cooling method delivers efficient and stable cooling, widely applicable to production needs across multiple industrial sectors.

When a flat die granulator is in operation, material first enters the feed inlet and is evenly conveyed to the pulverizing unit, where it is fully pulverized to meet subsequent processing requirements. The pulverized material is then transported by a screw conveyor to the pressing area. In the pressing area, the pressing rollers work closely with the flat die, forcing the material through the die holes under strong pressure, initially forming pellets. Next, the pellets are cut into the desired length by a cutter and leave the pressing area. The hot pellets then enter the cooling unit, where they are rapidly cooled by air or water, stabilizing their shape and properties. Finally, the cooled pellets are screened and packaged before being released to the market as finished products.

The flat die granulator’s pressing rollers feature wide grooves, ensuring pressure resistance and wear resistance. The larger rollers can withstand greater pressure, while the wider grooves effectively prevent material accumulation and ensure smooth material flow into the pressing area. The evenly distributed design of multiple pressing rollers ensures smoother operation while increasing the pressing area, significantly improving production efficiency. Taking biomass pellet production as an example, this design can increase yields by 30%-50%, effectively reducing production costs.

The flat die granulator achieves efficient material forming through its ingenious structural design and scientific workflow. Currently, this principle is widely used in feed, biomass energy, fertilizer, and other fields. With continued technological advancement, it is expected to play a significant role in even more areas in the future, bringing greater convenience and benefits to industrial production and resource utilization.