CONSTRUCTION OF HYDRAULIC DEWATERING MACHINE

By

AGUCHI NKECHI SUCCESS

Presented To

Department of Agriculture

ABSTRACT

Cassava is a perishable commodity with a shelf life of less than 3 days after harvest. Processing provides a means of producing shelf stable products thereby reducing losses, adding value, reducing the bulk to be marketed and increasing the shelf life. To arrest its perishable nature, size and moisture reduction of the wholesome tuber is important to process it into stable commodities such as flour, garri, etc. Seventy percent (70%) of cassava processed as human food is garri [1]. Its wide consumption is attributed to its relatively long shelf life and its easy preparation as a meal. It is the most consumed and traded of all food products made from cassava roots. Dewatering is an important process in the processing of fresh cassava to garri. Stones and log of wood has been in use locally which is laborious and time consuming. Mechanizing this process over the years has evolved with several dewatering machines designed and fabricated to ease the rigours time and wastage associated with it. The hydraulic dewatering that is being constructed and tested in this project is helical springs incorporated to its base upon which the bagged cassava mash to be dewatered sits. This allows better compaction pressure on it and aid the dewatering processing.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Title pages i

Declaration ii

Certification iii

Dedication iv

Acknowledgement v

List of figures xi

List of table xii

REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

To ease the drudgery involved in the dewatering of food in rural areas of Nigeria today, it is necessary to construct a simple machine to carry out this function. During the cassava flour process, after milling the cassava, it needs the dewatering machine to remove the water inside, so that it can reach the standard for drying. Dewatering machine uses the cassava presser, and by using the principle of hydraulic and self-weight, no filter chamber cavity, will directly press and squeeze the water under putting the material into the filter bag to further reduce the moisture content. The degree of automation is high: the process of feed, separation and unloading of industrial dehydrator is carried out continuously and automatically under high speed operation. The working pressure can be set and the dewatering time is set freely: include the total time of single press and the reciprocating frequency of short distance press. The hydraulic press is one of the oldest of the basic machine tools. In its modern form, is well adapted to presswork ranging from coining jewelry to forging aircraft parts. Modern hydraulic presses are, in some cases, better suited to applications where the mechanical press has been traditionally more popular. Advantages of Hydraulic Presses the mechanical press has been the first choice of many press users for years. The training of tool and die makers and manufacturing engineers in North America has been oriented toward applying mechanical presses to sheet-metal press working. Modern hydraulic presses offer good performance and reliability. Widespread application of other types of hydraulic power equipment in manufacturing requires maintenance technicians who know how to service hydraulic components. New fast acting valves, electrical components, and more efficient hydraulic circuits have enhanced the performance capability of hydraulic presses.

1.2 Problem Statement

Dewatering is an important process in the processing of fresh cassava to garri. Stones and log of wood has been in use locally which is laborious and time consuming. Mechanizing this process over the years has evolved with several dewatering machines designed and fabricated to ease the rigours and time wastage associated with it. The fermented liquid cassava mash is dewatered, using either a basket centrifuge and hydraulic press or a screw press to produce a thick fermented cassava cake of about 45-47% moisture content. The bulk of cassava grown in Nigeria is produced by peasant smallholders under traditional agricultural practices. Consequently, the average yield is low, ranging from 710 tonnes per hectare, which is much lower than the world average of 30-40 tonnes per hectare. Moreover, the cost of cassava has been unstable during the last five years. Increased labour wages for planting and harvesting and increased cost of transporting harvested tubers to processing plants as well as erratic climatic patterns seem to have affected the price of cassava. Another constraint of utilizing cassava for feed is the competition for cassava by man for food and industry. Cassava is utilized in the production of gari, fufu, cassava flour for human consumption, and for industrial starch used in textile industry. Thus, the amount of cassava available for the production of animal feed is very much reduced.

1.3 Aims and Objectives of the Work

The aim of this project is to construct a hydraulic dewatering machine and evaluate the influence of cassava age on such parameter for the purpose of development of cassava processing equipment. The objectives are

v To produce a functional cassava processing-based hydraulic dewatering machine.

v To allows better compaction pressure on the machine and aid the dewatering processing.

1.4 Significance of Study

This project is expected to reveal the possible mechanizing process that has been evolved over the years with several dewatering machines designs and fabricated to ease the rigours and time wastage associated with it. And also review the existing technologies and works associated to hydraulic dewatering machines/equipment and cassava processing. It is also expected to provide unique features of hydraulic dewatering machine and finally construct functional cassava-based hydraulic dewatering machine.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This research provided an extensive literature review on related technologies and existing works. It also constructed a functional hydraulic dewatering machine used as part of cassava processing.

1.6 Organization of the Report

Chapter One provides the background of study, aim and objectives of the work, problem statement, significance of the study and scope of the study.

Chapter Two presents background information on existing research in the fields of Defining dewatering, the theoretical background, Methods of dewatering. This information is necessary to understand decisions taken throughout the course of this work.

Chapter Three provides directions which this project will take in order to achieve its objectives. The detailed information on the process involved in parameter/equipment preparation.

Chapter Four provides details on the exact experiment scenarios that were conducted such as the construction, implementation and testing processes. The results of these experiments are shown.

Chapter Five completes this work by summarizing all the research studies during this project. Limitations and the key findings based on the presented results including suggestions for future work and improvements are all given.