Effect of Caragana and Corn Straw Mixture Parameters on Pellet Feed Unit Density

Abstract

The unit density value is a key quality index for pellet feed production. This study presents an experimental evaluation of the unit density for the pelletizing of caragana and corn straw, under different levels of technological parameters, including moisture content, weight ratio of caragana, and particle size. Results showed that these three parameters of raw materials affected unit density. Through orthogonal test and extreme variance analysis, it was shown that the various moisture content and weight ratio of caragana had a significant effect on the density of pellets, and the influencing factors were ranked as moisture content > weight ratio of caragana > particle size of the materials. In compliance with industry standards, optimizations of the parameters resulted in a granulation density of 1.15 g/cm3 with particle size of 5 mm, moisture content of 13.4% and weight ratio of caragana of 24.8%.

Keywords

• caragana
• corn straw
• pellet feed
• unit density