Tietjen Verfahrenstechnik GmbH
http://www.tietjen-original.com/en/About
Grinding Solutions Made for Petfood Producers
In our plant in north of Germany, we develop, design and produce grinding and separating systems for a wide variety of raw materials such as petfood or aqua feed recipes. We are available for consulting and project support, as well as for mechanical and plant engineering. Complex grinding systems are our specialty.
In addition to state-of-the-art grinding systems, we also design and build the necessary feed-in, sieving and conveying systems, implement dust removal or dust explosion protection.
We are convinced that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This also applies to grinding! Only with a grinding module that is tailored to the individual application and mill type top performance can be achieved. Especially for the pet food industry we provide fine grinding solution with high capacities.
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Grinding
6+ MIN
25/11/2025
Increasing Efficiency in Pet Food Production - Why You Should Think About Grinding
The main challenges pet food producers face in grinding today are:
New high fat and protein rich recipes for optimal nutrition.
Demand for fine uniform texture and well looking appearance requires fine grinding.
Increased energy cost decrease margines and grinding is one of the most energy consuming process steps.
Evolving Ingredients, Evolving Demands
Modern pet food recipes incorporate a growing variety of ingredients or higher meat and bone meal content causing unique milling challenges due to higher protein, fat, and moisture content. Premium pet food recipes often contain bone meal and meat content of more than 30% and a fat level higher than 8%.
Older hammermills struggle with these recipes, tend to clog when processing such components, leading to increased energy consumption and heat buildup. These issues not only drain more power but also degrade sensitive nutrients, compromise product quality, and necessitate more frequent maintenance.
FD 32 Pro hammer mill installed in pet food production
Fine Grinding and Extrusion Performance
Beyond the nutritional benefits, particle size has a significant impact on extrusion performance. Finer and more uniform grinding improves water absorption and starch gelatinization during the extrusion process. These factors influence the consistency, fineness, and bulk density of pet food. In addition, finer and more uniform grinding reduces wear on extrusion equipment, thereby reducing maintenance costs and downtime.
While fine grinding offers clear advantages in terms of nutritional value and processing, it also poses a significant challenge for hammer mills. Smaller screen sizes are required to achieve finer grinding, which often results in lower throughput and higher energy consumption. In addition, the risk of screen clogging increases and more heat is generated due to longer grinding times.
Excessive heat can break down sensitive nutrients and cause starch to gelatinize prematurely. This heat can also overheat mechanical parts and, in extreme cases, increase the risk of fire.
Many hammer mill systems were not designed for fine grinding. Older systems were designed for coarser grinding degrees, where a medium fineness was completely sufficient. Fine grinding requires higher rotor speeds, larger screen areas, optimized air flow, and intelligent process integration. Without these prerequisites, manufacturers are faced with rising operating costs, production losses, and unnecessary losses that have a direct impact on profitability.
The FD 32 Pro: Modern Hammer Mill Made for Pet Food Producers
Tietjen new FD 32 Pro hammer mill was designed to face these challenges and is engineered to address precisely these energy and process challenges. Key innovations include:
Expanded 4.8 m² screen area: Allows high capacity grinding to feed the new generation of extruders with only one mill. This saves investment and operational costs
Reduced beater-to-screen gap: Minimizes screen clogging even with high-fat ingredients
Variable speed drives: Permit optimized rotor speed, so the mill only uses as much energy as needed for each recipe
Impact plates & modular screens: Shorter retention time of the product in the mill and screens that fit ideally for the product allow for faster grinding with less energy
Quick-change beater frame system and User-Friendly Design: Large sliding doors, easy beater change, and robust construction allow for long service life, further lowering downtime.
In sum, the FD 32 Pro is the next step in hammer mill design—a focus on energy efficiency, high-capacity fine grinding, and operational simplicity—helping pet food manufacturers turn modern processing into opportunities for sustainable, profitable growth.
0.8 mm (20 -25 mesh) screens after grinding fat and protein rich pet food recipes
Due to its large size, the FD 32 Pro mill enables pet food producers to achieve both high throughput and fine particle size simultaneously when grinding pet food formulations. The throughput of the hammer mill complies with the requirements of the newest generation of high-capacity extruders.
The FD 32 Pro can process even protein- and fat-rich recipes through a 0.8 mm screen (roughly mesh size: 20 to 25) without clogging—something most mills cannot achieve without repeated stoppages or multiple machines.
Save More Energy with an Optimally Designed Grinding System
To achieve even greater improvements and maximize both energy and production efficiency, it is essential to rely not only on the high-capacity FD 32 Pro hammer mill, but on the entire grinding system. Looking at the grinding process as a whole opens up several opportunities for significant energy savings and operational improvements.
Pre-crushing of coarse ingredients
By integrating a pre-crusher such as the CR900 from Tietjen, coarse ingredients (legumes or large pellets) can be pre-crushed before entering the hammer mill. The result is a more homogeneous product that requires less time in the hammer mill, reducing both residence time and heat generation.
Optimized aspiration and product transport save energy
Correctly designed aspirations contribute significantly to increasing process efficiency in hammer mills.
Improved product discharge
The extraction system supports the targeted removal of particles that have reached the desired fineness. Coarse components remain in the grinding chamber until they are sufficiently crushed. Insufficient extraction would also leave fine particles in the grinding chamber, resulting in reduced throughput, higher energy consumption, and unnecessary strain on the machine.
Thermal stabilization of the ground material
During the grinding process, frictional heat is generated, which can significantly heat up the ground material. Aspiration reduces this effect, as the air flow continuously cools the material. This prevents temperature-related damage to sensitive ingredients, helps to ensure consistent product quality and minimizes the risk of dust explosions.
The professional design and integration of aspiration is therefore a key factor for operational safety, energy efficiency and product quality in the hammer mill process.
Uniform product distribution
The feed device of a hammer mill performs several key tasks: it distributes the feed material evenly across the entire width of the mill in order to make optimum use of the impact and sieving surface, keep the wear uniform and use the drive power efficiently. For product mixtures with components of different weights and that are difficult to grind, the system automatically adjusts the feed rate—controlled by the motor load of the mill (load-dependent dosing)—so that the operating point always remains optimal. In addition, the feed system ensures the separation of foreign objects such as metal or stones to prevent damage to the mill and explosion hazards.
It also supplies the intake air for grinding. Tietjen has developed a new DA 376 drum feeder for the FD 32 Pro, which is specially designed for the mill and the properties of pet food and aquafeed.
A magnet separates magnetic foreign matter, and the aspiration air is used for heavy material separation. The throughput is regulated by the speed of the drum.
Conclusion
Fine and homogeneous grinding is the key to producing high-quality premium pet food.
With the specially developed FD 32 Pro hammer mill, Tietjen offers a powerful solution that combines maximum grinding fineness with high throughput thanks to innovative technology and is ideal for processing demanding, fat- and protein-rich recipes.
However, the overall system remains crucial for maximum efficiency and product quality: The optimal coordination of hammer mill, pre-crushing, aspiration, and regular maintenance results in energy-efficient operation, reduces downtime, and ensures a consistently high-quality end product. Those who rely on modern grinding technology from Tietjen and a well-designed system are ideally equipped for the pet food production in the future.
By Tietjen
Source: All Pet Food Magazine
This is Tietjen
We have been developing, designing, and producing hammer mills and size reduction technology in Germany since 1959. Complex customer requirements are our specialty: from first contact to design and delivery of the optimal plant, to after sales service, we are your competent partner for all types of impact grinding. We develop your grinding solution and take care of the implementation—worldwide.
Grinding
2+ MIN
20/11/2025
FD 24 Pro, the New Hammer Mills for the FD Pro Series
The proven characteristics of Tietjen hammer mills, such as robustness, ease of operation and smooth rotor running, have been retained and supplemented with innovative details. For example, the rotor diameter has been increased by 100 mm to achieve a higher circumferential speed of the beaters. In addition, the distance between the hammer tips and the screen has been reduced, effectively reducing clogging of the screen openings in high-fat and high-protein recipes.
In the FD 24, the grinding chamber is 1200 mm long and divided by a centre wall, making the 600 mm wide screens easy to handle. The screen area is 3.6 m² (5,580 sq in), with four screens used per chamber segment. A special screen fastening seals the screens so that no oversize particles can get into the product.
The particle size distribution can be specifically influenced towards finer structures with a narrower grain size range if impact plates are used instead of the upper screen. Additional impact zones between the screen segments create further opportunities for optimisation. This allows larger screen apertures to be used without compromising product quality–resulting in noticeable energy savings.
In operation, the FD 24 Pro impresses with its ease of maintenance and efficiency. Sliding doors on both sides of the machine facilitate access when changing screens and beaters. The beaters are changed using the proven beater frame system. The result: faster service, short downtimes and a more energy-efficient operation overall.
Source: Tietjen Verfahrenstechnik GmbH
Contact
Tietjen Verfahrenstechnik GmbH
Marketing
Sandra Mohr
Vor der Horst 6
25485 Hemdingen
Email: pr@tietjen-original
Website: www.tietjen-original.com
Interviews
6+ MIN
22/08/2025
Interview With Arturo Sánchez: Tietjen’s Vision to Optimize Grinding Through The FD 32 Pro
1. What are the main solutions Tietjen currently offers?
Tietjen is a specialist in size reduction for pet food, fish feed and as well wood or food applications. We are known for our robust, efficient hammer mills for almost 70 years.
We provide a large range of mills, from compact systems for small operations to large-scale, fine grinding high-capacity hammer mills made for pet food producers.
Furthermore, we put a strong focus on an optimized grinding system with the hammer mill at its heart. We know from our customers all over the world that only an optimized grinding system reaches the highest productivity. So, we look that aspiration, feeding, transport, grinding as well as dust explosion protection are well aligned in our grinding systems. A typical Tietjen customer knows about these advantages and gets a well aligned grinding system.
2. Why is the grinding process so important in pet food production?
On the one hand, the grinding process is at the beginning of the pet food production process and has a massive influence on the efficiency of the downstream processes, e.g., homogeneous fine grinded pet food recipes reduce the incidence of die plugging in extruder, reduce wear, and improve binding properties due to uniformity and cleanness of the ground material. Most importantly, fine grinded pet food recipes are a prior condition for the production of uniform premium pet food kibbles.
On the other hand, grinding is one of the most energy consming parts in the pet food production process, so it is worth looking at it in more detail to figure our energy saving potentials.
3. What key features set the new FD 32 Pro Hammer Mill apart within Tietjen's portfolio of solutions?
The FD 32 Pro hammer mill by Tietjen was designed for pet food and aqua feed manufacturers. It is engineered to address the requirements for more throughput and fine grinding on the one hand, and energy efficiency on the other hand.
Well-known features of Tietjen hammer mills, such as robustness, user-friendliness and the smooth running of the rotor, have been retained and supplemented with new design features. For example, the rotor diameter has been increased by 100 mm to achieve a higher beater tip speed. Also, the distance between the beater tip and the screen has been reduced to prevent the screen openings from clogging in the case of high fat contents.
The grinding chamber was extended to 1600 mm and divided by a centre wall so that the screens, each 800 mm wide, are easy to handle. Four screens are installed per grinding chamber segment, resulting in a total screen area of 4.8 m² (7,440 in²). A special screen-fastening seals the screens so that no oversize particles can get into the product.
In daily operation, the FD 32 Pro impresses with its ease of maintenance and economical operation. Large sliding doors on both sides of the machine allow easy access for screen and beater change. Beaters are changed using the beater frame system, which has been well-proven in Tietjen large chamber mills for more than 40 years. The advantages of this system are the quick replacement of the beaters and reduced idling energy of the mill.
4. What are the concrete benefits of this model in terms of performance, energy efficiency, or end-product quality?
0.8 mm (20 mesh) screens after grdining fat and protein rich pet food recipes.
Due to its large size, the FD 32 Pro mill enables pet food producers to achieve both high throughput and fine particle size simultaneously when grinding pet food formulations. The throughput of the hammer mill complies with the requirements of the newest generation of high-capacity extruders.
In practical operation, the FD 32 Pro is able to process even protein- and fat-rich recipes through a 0.8 mm screen (20 mesh) without clogging—something that most mills cannot accomplish without multiple stoppages or the use of several machines.
Thanks to its dimensions and throughput, production with the FD 32 Pro is both more efficient and more energy-saving compared to conventional mills currently in use. There is additional potential for energy savings through the optimal configuration of the FD 32 Pro, as fineness and energy consumption are influenced by rotor speed, screen size, and beater configuration. Identifying the optimal setup here results in measurable cost savings.
It is important to highlight the significance of regular service and maintenance: Tietjen provides a strong service team with deep expertise in how maintenance impacts operational productivity. For example, damaged seals can reduce pressure inside the mill, significantly decreasing throughput.
Finally, it is essential to take a system-based approach: Never consider a hammer mill in isolation—always evaluate the entire grinding system. Our experience shows that well-aligned grinding systems are far more efficient, and as grinding specialists, we know how to optimize a system to achieve maximum productivity
5. How does this solution meet the specific needs of the Latin American pet food market?
Energy efficiency, productivity, and the production of high-quality premium pet food are increasingly important in South America. With our FD 32 Pro hammer mill—specially developed to address the specific needs of pet food manufacturers—we are confident that we can meet and even exceed customer expectations.
We offer not only a high-capacity, fine grinding hammer mill, but also comprehensive expertise in designing and aligning grinding systems for maximum productivity. By optimally configuring your entire grinding process, we enable consistent, energy-efficient production of premium pet food with outstanding quality and reliability.
6. In what type of plants or projects do you see the FD 32 Pro making a real difference?
When the first FD 32 Pro machines were put into operation, we noticed that the mill achieves very high fineness levels and grinds the material as finely as a pulverizer. For very small extrudates, such as those used in the production of starter fish feed or shrimp feed in the aqua feed industry, this opens up new possibilities for single-stage grinding. This significantly reduces investment costs and energy consumption.
7. What role does technological innovation play in Tietjen's current strategy?
Technological innovation plays a central role in Tietjen's current strategy and is a key driver of our competitive edge and customer value. This is as well reflected in the recent developed products like already mentioned FD 32 Pro hammer mill but also the Tietjen Crusher CR 900 and the Online Particle Size Controller (OPC) contribute to an increase in productivity, reliability and energy efficiency.
By integrating Tietjen's Crusher CR900, coarse ingredients like pulses or pellets can be pre-ground before entering the hammer mill. This results in a more homogeneous product that requires less grinding time in the hammer mill, reducing both retention time and heat buildup. Since the pre-crusher operates with lower energy consumption than the hammer mill, overall energy usage is reduced.
Our OPC (Online Particle Size Controller) is another innovation that boosts process transparency and quality assurance. By enabling real-time monitoring of particle size during milling, the OPC helps customers to detect screen break and wear early in the process. This level of digitalization and process control is increasingly essential in modern production environments, such as in the feed and pet food sectors.
Overall, Tietjen's strategy is characterized by continuous improvement of core machinery and integration of digital solutions to enhance productivity and product quality in pet food production. We ensure that our customers can meet today's challenging market demands through reliable, high-performance technology that is regularly refined and updated based on industry developments and customer feedback.
8. Finally, in which upcoming events will Tietjen be participating, either in Latin America or internationally?
We are participating in pet food events all over the world, such as Victam Latam, CIPEU, Fenagra, Victam International, EuroTier, IPPE
Thank you, Arturo, for sharing your vision of the market and Tietjen's latest updates.
To learn more, visit their website: https://www.tietjen-original.com/en
Source: All Pet Food
Grinding
2+ MIN
13/02/2025
FD 32 Pro Hammer Mill: New development for the Fine Grinding of Pet Food and Fish Feed
Well-known features of Tietjen hammer mills such as robustness, user-friendliness and the smooth running of the rotor have been retained and supplemented with new design features. For example, the rotor diameter has been increased by 100 mm to achieve a higher beater tip speed and the distance between the beater tip and the screen has been reduced to prevent the screen openings from clogging in the case of high fat contents. The grinding chamber was extended to 1600 mm and divided by a centre wall so that the screens, each 800 mm wide, are easy to handle. Four screens are installed per grinding chamber segment, resulting in a total screen area of 4.8 m² (7,440 in²). A special screen fastening seals the screens so that no oversize particles can get into the product. Optionally, impact plates can be installed in place of the upper screens, with which the particle size distribution can be additionally influenced in the direction of higher fineness while maintaining a narrow particle size range. Additional impact areas are available on the sides between the screen segments. This means that coarser screen diameters can be used to save energy while maintaining the same product quality. In daily operation, the FD 32 Pro impresses with its ease of maintenance and economical operation. Large sliding doors on both sides of the machine allow easy access for screen and beater change. Beaters are changed using the beater frame system, which has been well-proven in Tietjen large chamber mills for more than 40 years. The advantages of this system are quick replacement of the beaters and reduced idling energy of the mill. Source: Tietjen Verfahrenstechnik GmbH
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