Effect of moisture content and particle size on energy consumption for dairy cattle manure pellets

Abstract

Physical and mechanical properties of pellets are needed to make pellet form in storage of raw materials and energy consumption.  Dairy cattle manure, sieved by a two-level size of 30 and 50, were used to make pellets by a hydraulic press with mold diameter of 6 mm, in five moisture levels of 15%, 17.5%, 20%, 22.5% and 25% and two pressure levels of 100 and 150 MPa.  The results of the tests were analyzed using Excel and MATLAB softwares.  Results showed that the compression energy as well as friction energy of size 30 increased with the increasing moisture content from 15% to 20%, and decreased with the increasing moisture content from 20% to 25%, and both are under pressure levels of 100 and 150 MPa.  The compression energy and friction energy of the size 50 decreased with the increasing moisture content for both pressure levels of 100 and 150 MPa.  The energy consumption of compression was found to be greater at the pressure of 150 MPa than that of 100 MPa.  The greater amount of energy consumption was used for compression.  The maximum amount of friction energy was 16.7%, while the minimum was 11.23% for both pressure levels of 100 and 150 MPa.

Keywords: energy consumption, compression energy, dairy cattle manure, friction energy, pellet, pressure