Custom 30–200 TPD Line — How a Central Asian Rice Mill Investor Commissioned a 30 TPD Japonica Production Line in 14 Days
A rice mill investor in Central Asia needed a complete 30 TPD Japonica rice production line to meet a processing contract with a regional grain trader. The investment timeline was tight — the paddy harvest season was three months away and the line needed to be installed and commissioned before the first crop arrived. From confirmed order to container dispatch, the complete 30 TPD production line was ready in 14 days. This case study examines how the order was structured, what a 30 TPD Japonica line configuration involves, and what investors evaluating similar projects should understand about production line timelines and configuration requirements.
Operation Background
A rice mill investor in Central Asia — a region where short-grain Japonica is the primary commercial rice variety — had secured a processing contract with a grain trading company that supplied paddy from local farming areas and required milled white rice meeting specific whiteness and head-rice yield targets for distribution to urban retail buyers.
The investor had previous experience operating a small combined rice mill but had not previously managed a production line at commercial scale. The processing contract specified a minimum throughput of 25 TPD and a quality output meeting regional premium rice standards — whiteness rating within a specified band, broken rice percentage under 5%, and head-rice yield above 65%.
The investor's timeline was constrained by the paddy harvest calendar. The main Japonica crop in the region is harvested in autumn. The investor had committed to processing the contracted paddy volume starting from the first harvest delivery — meaning the line needed to be installed, commissioned, and producing to specification before the harvest arrived. Working backward from the required commissioning date, the investor had approximately 90 days from order to commissioning of the line.
A factory visit to Starlight Machinery's Danyang facility was arranged to observe a live machine trial before the order was confirmed. The investor's technical representative attended the trial, ran paddy through the configured line, and confirmed the output met the specification. The order was confirmed on the day of the factory visit.
The Challenge
Configuring and delivering a complete 30 TPD Japonica production line within a 90-day window — covering manufacturing, Factory Acceptance Testing, export packaging, sea freight, customs clearance, overland delivery, installation, and commissioning — required precise scheduling across every stage.
The configuration challenge was specific to Japonica. Short-grain Japonica varieties have different milling characteristics from long-grain Indica. The grain's compact shape and thicker bran layer relative to its volume require a specific whitening roll type, pressure settings, and feed-rate calibration to achieve the target whiteness without over-milling or excessive breakage. Polishing parameters for Japonica are also different — the grain's surface responds differently to water-mist polishing than long-grain varieties, and the moisture addition rate needs to be calibrated to the specific Japonica variety's surface characteristics.
These configuration requirements needed to be specified correctly before manufacturing began — adjustments at the installation site are possible, but significant configuration errors cannot be corrected post-shipment without extending the commissioning timeline beyond what the investor's harvest calendar allowed.
A second configuration consideration was the operating environment. Central Asian rice mill sites experience wide seasonal temperature variation, and the region's electrical supply has historically had voltage stability issues. The line's electrical specification needed to account for the voltage range at the installation site, and motor protection needed to be specified accordingly.
Equipment Selected
Custom Rice Milling Production Line (30–200 TPD)
The 30 TPD Japonica production line was configured as a complete processing sequence:
- Pre-cleaning stage: Vibrating screen cleaner removing straw, husks, and lightweight impurities from the paddy stream before husking
- Destoning stage: Gravity destoner removing dense impurities — stones, clods — that the vibrating screen cannot separate from paddy grain
- Husking stage: Rubber-roll husker configured for Japonica grain dimensions, with pressure calibrated for the variety's hull removal characteristics
- Paddy-brown separation: 100 Series Gravity Paddy-Brown Separator at throughput matched to the husker's output rate
- Whitening stage: Emery-roll whiteners in series, configured for Japonica whiteness targets and the compact grain shape's specific abrasion requirements
- Polishing stage: Water-mist polisher with moisture addition rate calibrated for Japonica surface characteristics and the regional premium market whiteness specification
- Grading stage: White rice grader with screen aperture specified for Japonica grain dimensions, separating head rice from brokens to the contracted broken rice percentage cap
- Elevation and conveyor integration: Bucket elevators and belt conveyors connecting each stage at the throughput rate of the complete line
The complete line was designed and manufactured to deliver 30 TPD of paddy input — approximately 2,000 kg/h at continuous operation — with output meeting the contracted quality specification.
Configuration and Deployment
Factory Acceptance Test
Before shipment, the complete line was assembled at Starlight's Danyang factory and subjected to a live Factory Acceptance Test. A paddy representative of the Central Asian Japonica variety was sourced for the trial. The line was run at 30 TPD across multiple consecutive lots, and performance data — head-rice yield, broken-rice percentage, whiteness, energy consumption per tonne — were captured and documented. Results were confirmed within the contracted specification before the FAT was signed off.
The FAT documentation — performance data, configuration records, recipe presets for the Japonica profile, calibration logs — was included in the export documentation pack as the commissioning baseline.
Export packaging and shipment
The line was disassembled after the FAT and packed for sea freight to the Central Asian destination. Sea freight packaging followed ISPM 15 phytosanitary requirements. The shipping route included a sea transit leg and an overland transit leg from the port of entry to the installation site. Packaging was specified to handle both legs — the sea transit's humidity and vibration conditions and the overland leg's road-surface and vehicle-handling conditions.
Container dispatch occurred 14 days after order confirmation — within the delivery timeline required by the investor's harvest schedule.
Installation and commissioning
Installation at the Central Asian site was completed by the investor's local engineering team in accordance with the assembly schematics in the export documentation pack. Remote technical support from Starlight's engineering team was available during the installation phase to answer configuration questions as they arose.
Commissioning involved connecting the line to the site's electrical supply, verifying voltage and protection settings, running the line dry, and then running paddy at the FAT throughput rate. Recipe presets from the FAT were loaded as the starting calibration. Minor adjustments were made at commissioning to account for the specific paddy batch conditions at harvest — moisture content at the installation site paddy was slightly different from the FAT paddy — and output was verified within specification before the commissioning was signed off.
Results
The 30 TPD Japonica production line was commissioned and producing to specification before the contracted harvest delivery arrived. The investor fulfilled the first season's processing contract without a supply shortfall.
Head rice yield at commissioning was measured within the contracted threshold. The broken-rice percentage in the graded head-rice fraction was confirmed to be below 5%. Whiteness output was within the regional premium specification.
The 14-day order-to-shipment timeline met the investor's harvest schedule constraint. The FAT documentation provided a reliable commissioning baseline that reduced the time required to calibrate the installed line to specification — the commissioning team's starting point was the FAT recipe, not a blank calibration from zero.
The investor had a repeat discussion with Starlight in the following year regarding an expansion to 50 TPD as processing volumes under the trading contract grew. The 30 TPD line remained in operation as the first phase of the planned expansion.
Who This Solution Suits
The Starlight Custom Rice Milling Production Line (30–200 TPD) is the right solution for:
Rice mill investors and project developers are establishing commercial processing operations at 30 TPD or above, where throughput and configuration requirements exceed what a combination mill can meet.
Japonica rice processors in Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan), Northeast China, and other short-grain-producing regions, where the whitening and polishing configuration needs to be calibrated specifically for Japonica grain characteristics.
Operations with defined harvest-season commissioning deadlines, where the order-to-shipment timeline is a commercial constraint and the production line needs to be delivered, installed, and producing within a specific window before paddy supply arrives.
Investors entering rice processing under supply contracts with specified quality targets — whiteness, broken-rice percentage, head-rice yield — that must be verified through a Factory Acceptance Test before the line ships.
For a detailed explanation of how Starlight approaches production line configuration, FAT, and post-commissioning support, see Quality & Process.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is included in a complete 30 TPD custom production line order?
A complete 30 TPD production line order includes all processing machines across the full milling sequence — pre-cleaning, destoning, husking, paddy-brown separation, whitening, polishing, and grading — plus the elevation and conveyor integration between stages, the electrical specification for the combined line, a Factory Acceptance Test with documented performance data, export packaging for the shipping route, and the complete export documentation pack (assembly schematics, wiring diagrams, maintenance manuals, spare parts list, FAT records, and commissioning baseline). Post-commissioning remote diagnostics support and formal KPI reviews at 30 and 90 days are also included.
How is the production line configured for a specific grain variety like Japonica?
Grain-specific configuration covers the stages where the grain's physical characteristics directly affect the mechanical interaction: whitening roll type and pressure settings (Japonica's compact shape requires different abrasion parameters from long-grain Indica), polishing moisture addition rate (Japonica's surface responds differently from Indica to water-mist application), screen aperture at the grading stage (sized for Japonica's shorter grain length), and paddy-brown separator calibration (adjusted for Japonica's bulk density profile). These parameters are specified prior to manufacturing and verified during the Factory Acceptance Test using a paddy representative of the buyer's grain type.
Can the production line be expanded in the future if throughput requirements grow?
Yes. Starlight's production line designs can incorporate modular expansion provisions — additional whitening passes, higher-capacity grading stages, or parallel processing lines — as the operation's throughput grows. If expansion is planned at the time of the initial order, the engineering team can design the initial line layout with the expansion in mind, ensuring that the facility layout, electrical infrastructure, and stage connection points accommodate future additions without requiring a redesign. Discuss your growth plan with Starlight's engineering team when specifying the initial line.
Discuss Your Production Line Requirements with Starlight's Engineering Team
Whether you are specifying a 30 TPD line or planning a larger commercial production line, Starlight's engineering team can advise on configuration, timeline, Factory Acceptance Testing, and post-delivery support.
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