| Author | Gupte, Sunil Mahadeo |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. AE-86-11 |
| Subject(s) | Water-hyacinth
|
| Note | A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Experiments were conducted to determine the suitability of roller
press for extracting moisture from water hyacinth. Plain surface
rollers and grooved surface rollers with rectangular grooves were tested
for the study, The gap was varied as 3. 75 mm, 2. 5 mm and 2. 00 mm
between the rollers. Freshly harvested whole plants, once chopped
plants and twice chopped plants were tested for finding out the effect
of size reduction of feed on moisture extraction. The chopping was done
using the chopper developed by ALAM in 19B5. The speed of rollers was
varied as 12 RPM, 24 RPM, 36 RPM and 48 RPM . Then the minimum possible
gap for plain rollers and grooved rollers was determined. The roller
speed was varied to obtain an optimum speed of rollers for the set up in
case of plain surface rollers and grooved surface rollers. Also the
effect of shearing action due to difference in roller speed rotating
simultaneously was studied. The roller press capacity was determined at
the optimum speed 'obtained from the experiments.
The moisture content was determine on wet weight basis using an
air oven method by keeping the samples at 105° C for 24 hrs. in an oven
till it showed no reduction in weight. The samples for moisture content
determination were weighed using an electronic balance. The power was
measured using a three phase wattmeter. The average size of ten samples
of whole plants, chopped once plants and plants chopped twice was used
for analysis.
The results indicated that the minimum possible gap for first
pressing is 1. 5 mm and for subsequent pressings it is 1. 00 mm for
grooved rollers. Also the twice chopped water hyacinth plants gave
maximum extraction of 71 % in four pressings. The capacity of existing
press was 2. 4 ton/hr for the tested data and the energy consumed was 3. 9
kH hr per ton of material fed. |
| Year | 1986 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Food Engineering (AE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Gee-Clough, D. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Gupta, Chandra P. ;Singh, Gajendra |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Canadian International Development
Agency. |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1986 |