Bühler unveils Granulex 5 series hammer mill platform

Swiss multinational plant equipment manufacturer Bühler has announced the launch of the Granulex 5 series, a hammer mill platform, which comes after a decade of research. The new hammer mill series packs in many small innovations that together add up to a big boost in performance. Its modular system offers significant energy savings and flexibility while maintaining the highest product quality and safety standards.

Grinding is one of the most energy-intensive process steps in many food and feed plants. In today’s competitive markets, rising energy costs are a serious issue. A big challenge faced by businesses that rely on grinding is, therefore, how to make more with less. Greater energy efficiency is one of the prime benefits of the new Granulex 5 series, with 10% reduction in energy consumption per ton, and in some cases, the reduction can be as much as 30%.

The new hammer mill has the highest throughput ranges, an improved granulation profile, and an operator-friendly design. Capacity is increased by 10% and the time required for screen changeovers is reduced by 50%. The new solution can also be connected to Bühler Insights to enable 24/7/365 data-based decision-making.

Revolutionizing the hammer mill

The hammer mill is among the most widely used grinding solution in industrial food and feed processing plants, valued for its flexibility and adaptability. “It is not easy to revolutionize an old machine category,” says Dean Ekkaia, product management director, value nutrition, at Bühler Group. “But after a decade of quiet innovation, gathering the best concepts, and then testing them extensively, we have created the best possible grinding system available.”

Over the past 10 years, the new Granulex 5 series team has invested thousands of hours in testing and experimenting with different designs. In addition, the development has been carried out in close collaboration with customers, including extensive lab testing in three specially set up labs in the US, China, and Switzerland.

“It is a truly global machine, tested and developed in our international labs as well as running commercially in line at customer plants. Every part has a great deal of data behind it, proving the concept and the performance of each component,” says Reto Bischof, head of Research & Development Value Nutrition at Bühler.

360 different configurations

One of the most important characteristics of the concept is its modularity. The Granulex 5 series can be configured to fit specific applications and process requirements in any country, for coarse or fine grinding, all with an optimized set-up for each customer.

The system keeps maintenance costs low. All variants of the Granulex 5 series operate with the same inventory of parts that can be applied in different machine settings. Overall, the set-up is designed to allow for 360 different configurations and can be adapted to the most diverse products and customer targets. 

A proven concept

Mixed feed producer Agravis, based in Münster, Germany, is already benefiting from the advanced features of the new series. 

“The way we operate has changed in recent times due to rising energy costs,” says Heiko Almann, Managing director at Agravis. “The Granulex 5 series delivered significant energy savings compared to our current hammer mills. The Granulex 5 benefits our operations with reduced maintenance time and optimized granulation.” 

Ready to connect

The Granulex 5 series is ready to connect to Bühler digital applications, enabling customers to view grinding line data anytime, anywhere, and analyze trends and track problems. But most important of all, the data transparency and preventive information provided through digital solutions provide insights that support customers in improving processes. 

The Granulex 5 series is part of Bühler’s ongoing development and restructuring of the entire portfolio. The aim is to provide a more transparent, customer-focused offering for the grinding industry. 

“With 150 years of experience in grinding and other key engineering disciplines we will provide new and customized solutions for our clients operating in rapidly changing markets,” says Ian Roberts, CTO at Bühler Group. “The launch of the Granulex 5 series is a major milestone in this development.”