The maximum sustained throughput of a single-lane starch molding line is not set by the depositor alone. It is set by the balance between the moisture the starch picks up during molding and how quickly the starch printing and drying/conditioning loop can remove that water. In most sustained operations, the starch printing and drying system becomes the bottleneck before the depositor reaches its mechanical speed limit.
For planning purposes, a single-lane line typically runs in the range of 8 to 16 trays per minute, depending on tray size, cavity count, piece weight, and formula solids. A common starch tray holds roughly 25-35 kg of starch, and moisture pickup per cycle is often 0.3-0.8 kg of water per tray for gummy or soft-chew deposits.
Calculating the drying bottleneck
The water load on the starch system is:
Water load (kg/h) = trays/min × moisture pickup per tray (kg) × 60
The theoretical upper limit based on starch dewatering rate is:
Maximum trays/min = starch dryer water-removal capacity (kg/h) ÷ moisture pickup per tray (kg) ÷ 60
Example: at 12 trays/min with 0.6 kg of water picked up per tray, the moisture load is 432 kg/h. If the starch dryer/conditioner is rated for 350 kg/h of water removal, the line is already past its sustainable point. The theoretical upper limit would be 350 ÷ 0.6 = 583 trays/h, or about 9.7 trays/min.
Practical upper limit
Using that mass-balance approach, many single-lane starch molding lines have a practical sustained ceiling of 10-14 trays/min before starch conditioning becomes the constraint. Higher sustained rates require more drying capacity, higher deposit solids, or a larger starch conditioning system.
At KorNutra, we treat starch dewatering capacity as the true upper bound for a single-lane line, not the depositor stroke speed. This keeps the starch bed moisture stable and prevents the starch printing/drying loop from drifting beyond its rated removal rate.
The exact number should always be confirmed with a mass balance on the specific formula, tray format, dryer airflow, and target starch moisture.