DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF MOTOR-OPERATED SCREW TYPE BRIQUETTING MACHINE

The study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the Motor-Operated Screw Type Briquetting Machine and briquettes produced using raw materials such as carbonized corn cobs sawdust and charcoal powder (Ipil-Ipil). It is also aimed to determine the factors affecting the performance of the Motor-Operated Screw Type Briquetting Machine. The machine was made up of metal sheets and plates and other locally-available materials. The study was conducted last April 1 to May 14, 2017, at the Agricultural Engineering Complex in Mindanao State University-General Santos City. The performance evaluation was conducted using three different materials, at a constant screw speed of 45.9 rpm and four replications for each of the materials. The data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance in Complete Randomized Design and Least Significant Difference for Mean Separation Test. For each trial,880 g carbonized corn cobs, 880 g sawdust, and 880 g charcoal powder was utilized for individual samples and had an equal amount of cassava starch as a binder of 120 g. Results showed that the machine performed the highest briquetting time and briquetting rate of 9.63 minutes and 6.20 in kg/hr. or 0.70 min/pc, respectively when carbonized corn cobs were used as briquette material. While sawdust has the highest Impact on the Resistance Index and Moisture Content of 156.2525 and 27.38 % w.b., respectively. Moreover, the highest recorded Specific Fuel Consumption and Burning Rate were in the carbonized corn cob and charcoal powder briquettes with SFC of 1.44 and 1.62 g of briquette/gram of water, and burning rate of 11.02 and 15.05 g/minute, respectively. In ANOVA analysis and Least Significant Difference test, it showed that corncobs showed significant difference results to sawdust and charcoal powder at a 5% level of significance in terms of briquetting time and briquetting rate, while it showed no significant difference in briquetting efficiency. It was concluded that the general performance of the Motor-Operated Screw Type Briquetting Machine was mainly affected by the moisture content of the products being loaded. The materials and power of the machine during the operation also affected the machine. For the improvement of the fabricated machine and further evaluation of its performance, some parts should be modified and other raw materials need to be tested.