TR, after a quick scan, what jumps out at me is the ENORMOUS size and energy requirements of the Perdue/Agri system.
Items 3, 4 & 5 (on their picture) can all be replaced with the KDS. Why go with so much equipment which is high in maintenance and "old technology"? I don't see the reason yet. Maybe the cost or track record of the KDS was a big issue. But not even sure about that, since item 4 (the rotary drier) would cost almost as much as a KDS. Must have been the production rate then. The rotary driers can dry a couple of hundred tons per hour, although as I posted in the past, at about 4 times the energy cost. Look at item 6. Yes that is a 500HP motor. Twice the size of the KDS! Hammer Mill must be also huge. This system is very energy demanding.
I think that maybe FASC/KDS was not ready for this size job. I think that if the larger KDS6000 was an existing machine then it would have been a much stronger competitor for this system.
