Hydraulic Compost Turning Machine

The hydraulic trough-type compost turner, also known as a hydraulic lifting trough-type compost turner or hydraulic trough-type turning machine, is a core automated piece of equipment for realizing the trough-type aerobic fermentation process in large-scale organic fertilizer production, livestock and poultry manure treatment, and municipal sludge resource utilization projects. Based on the traditional trough-type compost turner, this equipment introduces a fully hydraulic drive and control system. Relying on hydraulic transmission technology, it integrates the core advantages of strong power, efficient turning, stability, durability, and intelligent convenience, enabling all-round turning and oxygen supply of materials within the fermentation tank, significantly shortening the fermentation cycle.

Unlike the inefficient operation mode relying on manual turning or small compost turners, the hydraulic trough-type compost turner can achieve continuous and deep turning operations within the fermentation tank. It can quickly replace oxygen in the pile, evaporate excess moisture, and crush and evenly mix materials. It is a key piece of equipment for the harmless treatment of livestock and poultry manure, kitchen waste, and agricultural waste. Its application marks a leap from "extensive manual labor" to "factory-scale intelligent control" in organic fertilizer fermentation.

Equipment Structure and Composition

The hydraulic trough-type compost turner adopts a modular design, mainly composed of the following six core systems:

1. Frame and Main Structure

The main load-bearing frame of the equipment is made of high-quality carbon steel, treated with rust removal and anti-corrosion to resist corrosion from fermentation materials and extend the service life of the equipment. The heavy-duty frame design has strong load-bearing capacity and can adapt to long-term high-intensity deep turning operations.

2. Power Transmission Device (Turning Power System)

Composed of a motor, reducer, sprocket, bearing housing, main shaft, etc., it is the core device that provides power to the turning drum. The motor transmits power to the cycloidal pinwheel reducer, which then transmits it to the turning drum via the sprocket.

3. Traveling Device

Composed of a traveling motor, transmission gears, transmission shaft, traveling sprocket, etc. The equipment moves smoothly along the tracks laid on both sides of the fermentation trough. The traveling system adopts a track-type design, ensuring smooth movement, low noise, and a low failure rate.

4. Hydraulic Lifting Device (Core Feature)

Adopting a fully hydraulic lifting system, it consists of a hydraulic pump station, solenoid valve body, hydraulic oil pipes, hydraulic cylinder, etc. This is the core difference between a hydraulic trough-type compost turner and a traditional mechanical compost turner. The hydraulic system includes an electric motor, hydraulic pump unit, hydraulic oil tank, and control valve group. The hydraulic cylinders precisely control the lifting height of the turning drum, flexibly adapting to different pile heights and material states at different fermentation stages.

5. Turning Device (Turning Rotor/Drum)

This consists of sprockets, support arms, and turning drums. The wear-resistant alloy steel rake teeth (or spirally arranged alloy stirring teeth) installed on the drum deeply scoop up, break up, and crush the organic material in the trough, then throw it backwards. The turning rotor's main shaft is made of thick-walled seamless steel pipe, and the stirring teeth are made of high-chromium alloy steel casting with a wear-resistant weld overlay treatment, achieving a hardness of HRC60 or higher.

6. Transfer Vehicle (Shift Vehicle/Transfer Machine)

This consists of a walking motor, transmission gears, drive shaft, and walking wheels, providing a temporary transport tool for changing troughs with the compost turner. The main unit and the transfer machine can be used together to achieve multi-trough operation with one machine.

Application Scope of the Equipment

The equipment is suitable for all industry scenarios involving aerobic high-temperature harmless fermentation, volume reduction and dehydration, and composting for organic solid waste, covering four core areas:

1. Organic Fertilizer/Bio-Fertilizer Production Industry: Core supporting equipment for fermentation sections of commercial organic fertilizer plants, compound microbial fertilizer plants, and bio-fertilizer plants, with an annual production capacity of 10,000 to 200,000 tons of organic fertilizer.

2. Livestock and Poultry Breeding Environmental Disposal: Self-built manure treatment workshops for large-scale pig farms, chicken farms, and cattle and sheep farms, enabling on-site disposal of livestock manure and production of organic fertilizer to achieve a cycle of planting and breeding.

3. Municipal Solid Waste Environmental Treatment Industry: Sludge treatment stations in urban sewage treatment plants, sanitation and landscaping leaf and branch treatment plants, and organic slurry fermentation workshops for pre-treatment of kitchen waste, completing the harmless reduction and volume reduction of municipal organic solid waste.

4. Deep processing of agricultural products, planting, and edible fungi industry

Agricultural product processing plants: fermentation and treatment of sugar mill filter mud, brewing lees, Chinese medicine residue, and oilseed cake;

Horticultural planting bases: composting of substrates for thousands of acres of orchards, vegetable bases, and flower seedling cultivation;

Edible fungi factories: pre-fermentation and composting stages for cultivation materials of button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and oyster mushrooms.

Applicable Raw Materials

This equipment can process all high-organic-matter industrial, agricultural, livestock, and municipal organic waste. The pretreatment standards for raw materials are as follows: moisture content adjusted to 50%~65%, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio adjusted to 20~30:1 before fermentation:

1. Livestock and poultry manure: pig manure, cow manure, chicken manure, sheep manure, duck manure;

2. Agricultural and forestry straw: corn stalks, wheat straw, sawdust, wood chips, rice husks, peanut shells;

3. Industrial organic waste residue: sugar factory filter mud, baijiu/huangjiu lees, vinegar residue, medicinal herb residue, rapeseed cake, cottonseed cake;

4. Municipal organic solid waste: dewatered sludge from sewage treatment plants, fallen leaves and branches from gardens, sorted organic slurry from kitchen waste;

5. Edible fungi waste: waste mushroom substrate, edible fungi cultivation substrate.

Working Principle of the Equipment

The entire machine operates through three independent, interconnected systems: track walking, drum turning, and hydraulic lifting adjustment. These systems enable the complete physical processing of materials for aerobic fermentation:

1) Machine Walking Logic: Parallel load-bearing tracks are laid on both sides of the fermentation tank. The walking motor drives the wheels, causing the entire machine to move back and forth along the tracks at a uniform speed. The walking speed can be steplessly adjusted via the electrical control cabinet to adapt to the turning frequency requirements at different fermentation stages.

2) Material Handling Principle of the Turning Drum

Dual main motors drive the turning drum to rotate at high speed via a reducer and sprocket. The spiral wear-resistant alloy rake teeth on the drum surface continuously cut and grab deep-seated materials at the bottom of the trough, completing four core auxiliary functions for fermentation:

1. Oxygen Supply and Aeration: Breaks up dense material clumps, introducing air into the pile to meet the oxygen requirements for the reproduction of aerobic thermophilic microorganisms and eliminate anaerobic odor;

2. Temperature Control and Heat Dissipation: Turns the high-temperature material (55~70℃) inside the pile to the surface to release heat, stabilizing the harmless temperature range of the pile (above 55℃ for 7 days, killing insect eggs, pathogens, and weed seeds);

3. Crushing and Mixing: Powerfully breaks up compacted manure clumps and straw balls, achieving uniform mixing of main materials, straw auxiliary materials, and fermentation agents, avoiding incomplete local fermentation;

4. Continuous Material Displacement: The propeller blades generate forward pushing force, uniformly moving the material towards the discharge end of the fermentation tank. 0.2~1m, enabling a continuous feeding at the front end and continuous discharge of fermented material at the rear in a streamlined production line mode.

3) Hydraulic Lifting Adjustment Principle: After the electrical control cabinet sends a lifting command, the hydraulic pump motor drives the pump station to output high-pressure hydraulic oil, which is delivered to the lifting cylinders on both sides via an electromagnetic reversing valve. The cylinders extend and retract, driving the roller support arm to raise/lower the roller, achieving precise adjustment of the turning depth:

1. Ground flatness error <15mm: Roller blades 30~50mm off the ground;

2. Poor ground flatness: Blades fixed at 50mm off the ground to avoid the rake teeth scraping the bottom of the fermentation tank and damaging the equipment;

3. When the machine is stopped and unloaded for transfer, the roller can be completely raised above the highest point of the material pile to prevent material accumulation below the roller from causing the motor to overload and burn out upon the next start-up.

Equipment Operation Method

Pre-start Inspection: Check all lubrication points, hydraulic oil levels, and electrical connections for proper functioning.

Positioning: Use the transfer cart to align the equipment with the target fermentation tank.

Hydraulic Lowering: Activate the hydraulic system to lower the turning drum to the material depth.

Start Operation: Start the rotary motor, followed by the travel motor to begin turning.

Cyclic Operation: After turning to the end of the tank, raise the drum, and the equipment can quickly retract or be switched using the transfer cart.

Common Equipment Problems and Solutions

Application of the Equipment in the Production Line

The hydraulic trough compost turner is a widely used piece of equipment in organic fertilizer production lines. Located between solid-liquid separation and aging screening, it is the "main battlefield" for biochemical reactions.

1. Positioning in the Production Line

In the entire organic fertilizer production line, the hydraulic trough compost turner plays a core role in turning and disposing of materials. The equipment adopts a modular structure design, making installation convenient and allowing for rapid integration into large-scale organic fertilizer production lines. It can seamlessly connect to equipment such as crushers, mixers, and granulators, achieving integrated operations of organic raw material crushing, mixing, turning, and composting.

2. One Machine, Multiple Troughs Operation

With the aid of a transfer vehicle (shifting machine), "one machine, multiple troughs" can be operated in rotation, greatly improving equipment utilization and saving on infrastructure and equipment investment costs. For organic fertilizer projects with an annual production capacity of tens of thousands of tons or more, multiple troughs can be connected in parallel with one compost turner to achieve continuous feeding and discharging, significantly improving site utilization and production continuity.

3. Value in the Production Process: Stable turning and turning quality provides high-quality raw materials with suitable moisture content and uniform fineness for subsequent crushing and granulation processes, significantly reducing recycle rate and energy consumption. The equipment often integrates a biological deodorizing spray system, simultaneously spraying deodorizing bacteria during the turning and turning process to inhibit the volatilization of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide at the source, improving the factory environment.

Complete Hydraulic Trench Aerobic High-Temperature Fermentation Process

1) Complete Fermentation Process Flow

Organic raw material collection → Solid-liquid dehydration pretreatment (optional for high-moisture manure) → Straw auxiliary material crushing → Ingredient mixing (manure + straw + fermentation agent, adjusting moisture content to 50%~65%, carbon-nitrogen ratio to 20~30:1) → Uniform distribution in the fermentation tank → Segmented timed turning and fermentation using FPY hydraulic trough turner → Discharge of matured material → Crushing and screening/granulation deep processing → Packaging of finished organic fertilizer.

2) Staged Fermentation Process Parameters (Adapted to the Advantages of Hydraulic Lifting and Multi-Depth Adjustment)

Total fermentation cycle: 15-25 days, managed in three stages, utilizing the stepless lifting function of the hydraulic turner to match the turning depth at each stage:

1. Heating Stage (Days 1-5 of Fermentation)

Process Objective: Rapidly raise the temperature to above 55℃, quickly eliminate odor;

Hydraulic Turning Parameters: Shallow turning with rollers (0.5-0.8m depth), turning once every 1-2 days;

Process Effect: Shallow turning quickly breaks up material clumps, introduces air to activate microorganisms, raises the pile temperature to above 50℃ in 16 hours, and completely eliminates the foul odor from the pile in 3-5 days.

2. High-Temperature Decomposition Stage (Days 6-15 of Fermentation) Process Objective: Maintain a high temperature of 55-70℃ for at least 7 days to completely kill insect eggs, pathogens, and weed seeds. Hydraulic Turning Parameters: Deep turning with rollers (1.2-1.8m depth), turning once every 2-3 days. Process Function: Deep hydraulic turning completely brings the bottom anaerobic material to the surface for heat dissipation, stabilizes the high-temperature range of the pile, and ensures sufficient aeration of the deep material, achieving simultaneous decomposition and harmless maturation of the entire pile.

3. Cooling and Stabilization Stage (Days 16-25 of Fermentation) Process Objective: The pile temperature gradually drops below 40℃, organic matter is completely degraded, and the material is dehydrated and stabilized. Hydraulic Turning Parameters: Precise turning at a depth of 0.8-1.2m in the drum, once every 3-5 days. Process Function: Precise height-controlled turning accelerates moisture evaporation from the pile, ensures uniform material maturation, and enriches humus, providing high-quality raw materials for subsequent granulation and powdered organic fertilizer processing.

3) Core Technological Value of Hydraulic Compost Turners in Fermentation Processes

1. Full-cycle Adaptability to Turning Depth: Unlike ordinary models with fixed heights, hydraulic lifting allows for real-time adjustment of the turning depth according to the fermentation stage, shortening the fermentation cycle by 3-7 days and improving workshop turnover efficiency;

2. Flexible Heavy-duty Adaptability to Complex Materials: Under conditions of high-resistance materials such as high-moisture, viscous pig manure and sludge, the hydraulic system buffers and depressurizes the equipment, resulting in a failure rate far lower than mechanical transmission models, ensuring continuous fermentation production without interruption;

3. Improved Quality of Finished Organic Fertilizer: Uniform and deep turning ensures consistent material maturity, resulting in finished organic fertilizer with consistently meeting national organic fertilizer standards for organic matter, effective viable bacteria count, and humic content, making it more competitive in the market.

Summary of Equipment Advantages

Compared to traditional mechanical compost turners, hydraulic trough turners offer the following significant advantages:

1. Powerful Performance: The hydraulic system boasts high torque and rapid response, delivering 1.5-2 times the turning force of ordinary models, easily crushing high-moisture, high-viscosity, and large-lump organic materials.

2. Flexible Adjustment: The hydraulic system enables stepless lifting of the drum and smooth adjustment of the travel speed.

3. Deep Turning: Turning depth can reach up to 2.5 meters, eliminating dead zones.

4. High Automation: Equipped with a PLC control cabinet or wireless remote control, enabling fully automatic cyclic operation.

5. Energy Efficient: Energy consumption per ton is 20% lower than traditional equipment, and the fermentation cycle is shortened by more than 30%.

6. Strong Adaptability: One machine can operate in multiple troughs, significantly improving equipment utilization.

7. Robust and Durable: Key components are made of wear-resistant alloy materials, with a service life 2-3 times that of ordinary turning teeth.