Effect of Temperature, Pressure and Moisture Content on Durability of Cattle Manure Pellet in Open-end Die Method

Abstract

Densification of biomass feedstocks, such as pelleting, can increase bulk density, improve storability, reduce transportation costs, and make these materials easier to handle by using existing handling and storage equipment. Evaluation effect of extrusion and raw material parameters on quality parameters of pellet is necessary to determine optimum conditions for designing and constructing a suitable pelleting machine for producing cattle manure pellets. In this study durability of cattle manure pellet that produced by opened die method determined at different temperatures (T), pressures (P) and moisture contents (Mw). Cattle manure samples were compressed with three levels of pressures (3.5,6 and 8 Mpa) and three levels of temperatures (40, 60 and 80 °C) at three levels of moisture contents (50, 55 and 60%). ANOVA results have indicated that linear terms T , P and Mw and interaction of variables were statistically significant at P < 0.01 for pellet durability. Also using cattle manure with 50% moisture content, medium temperature about 40 °C and pressure at 6 MPa resulted maximum pellet durability.