Engineering, Digital Technologies, and Process Optimization for Sustainable Feed Manufacturing
A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Technology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2026 | Viewed by 40
Special Issue Editors
Interests: DEM; CFD-DEM; breakage mechanism; pellet feed; freshness indicators; storage conditions
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The global feed industry is undergoing a profound transformation driven by increasing demand for animal protein, rising energy costs, carbon-emission reduction targets, and the need for resource-efficient livestock production systems. Feed manufacturing represents a significant proportion of both the environmental footprint and operational cost of animal agriculture, making sustainable and efficient manufacturing technologies a critical research priority worldwide. Traditionally, feed engineering has focused on mechanical processing operations such as grinding, mixing, pelleting, drying, cooling, screening, and conveying. Today, advances in agricultural engineering, intelligent manufacturing, digital sensing, and computational technologies are creating new opportunities to improve feed quality, production efficiency, equipment reliability, and environmental sustainability.
Emerging technologies—including discrete element method (DEM) simulation, CFD-DEM coupled modeling, machine vision, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), digital twins, and intelligent process control—are increasingly being integrated into modern feed manufacturing systems. However, major challenges remain regarding particle breakage, pellet durability, process efficiency, energy consumption, equipment wear, dust generation, and biomass utilization under industrial operating conditions.
This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the latest advances in engineering innovation, digital technologies, and process optimization for sustainable feed manufacturing. We consider contributions addressing equipment design, intelligent sensing, process monitoring, numerical simulation, digital manufacturing, process optimization, and sustainability assessment throughout the feed manufacturing chain.
Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:
[Topic 1] Feed Manufacturing Engineering and Process Optimization;
[Topic 2] Feed Raw Material Characterization and Quality Evaluation;
[Topic 3] Intelligent Sensing and Digital Technologies;
[Topic 4] Pneumatic Conveying and Material Handling Systems;
[Topic 5] Advanced Numerical Simulation and Digital Engineering;
[Topic 6] Sustainable Feed Manufacturing Technologies;
[Topic 7] Feed Quality Monitoring and Process Assurance.
Prof. Dr. Zhiyou Niu
Guest Editor
Dr. Xianrui Kong
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- feed manufacturing
- feed processing engineering
- agricultural engineering
- intelligent sensing
- digital technologies
- artificial intelligence
- pneumatic conveying
- numerical simulation
- process optimization
- sustainable manufacturing
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