Development and performance evaluation of organic fertilizer machinery

AbstractOrganic fertilizer forms the lifeblood & basic necessity of every poor farmer as a result of high cost of buying the chemical (Inorganic) fertilizer. The organic machinery plant consists of the shredder, the mixer, the pelletizer and a conveyor system that will link the shredder to the mixer, in such a way that, the shredding and mixing operation can be done simultaneously. The shredder consists of components such as a 3 kW electric motor, rotating shaft, 2 mm thick mild steel, a rotating blade which will act as the stirrer and a sieve. The mixer consists essentially of a 3 kW electric motor and a rotating shaft of 90 mm. Main features of the pelletizer are electric motor (single phase, 3 kW), 50 mm axial shaft, screw auger, extrusion barrel, bearing case, pulley, chain and sprockets. The dimension of the machine frame is (800 × 500 × 600 mm). The performance of the machine was based on pelleting efficiency, percentage recovery and throughput capacity of the machine, which were determined at three...