A cylindrical chopper with crusher for water hyacinth volume and biomass reduction

A water hyacinth chopper with crusher was developed at the College of Technology and Engineering, Udaipur, India to reduce volume and weight of freshly harvested water hyacinth to facilitate transportation. Two variables, feed rate and knife speeds, were studied to determine relationships between changes in specific volume, knife speeds, percent weight loss and feed rates. Weight reduction studies showed that increasing feed rate and knife speed resulted in a decrease in weight loss. Maximum weight loss of 34% was achieved with the minimum feed rate of 1 t h(-1) and a knife speed of 3.1 m s(-1). Regression models were developed to predict the specific volume and weight loss at different feed rates and knife speeds. The prototype machine reduced the specific volume and weight of fresh water hyacinth up to 64% and 32% respectively at a feed rate of 1 t h(-1) and knife speed of 4.7 m s(-1). The average power and specific energy required to run the machine was 0.10 kW and 1.4 kW-h/t dry matter, respectively. The output capacity of the chopper with crusher was found to be 1.4 t h(-1).