Pelleting and drying of coconut (Cocos nucifera) coir dust
2008
Rugayan, E.M., Philippines Univ. Los Baños, College, Laguna (Philippines). Coll. of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology
The study aimed to determine the optimum condition of the pelletized coco coir dust in terms of particle size, moisture content and shaft rotation speed. The tests involved a 3 level-3-parameter incomplete fractional Box and Benhken (1960) design resulting in 15 runs. Initial preparation procedures consisted of sieving, pelleting, and drying coconut coir dust samples. Pelleting of samples followed that assessed pellets on bulk density, angle of repose, dimensions, particle density, hardness, drying rates and absorption properties. The response surface methodology (RSM) of statistical Analysis System (SAS ver.8) and STATISTICA program ver.7 analyzed the data to generate the optimum conditions. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) determined the statistical significance among means. Results showed that particle size significantly affected the hardness of pellets at 95% confidence level while initial moisture content significantly affected the drying rate of the pellets. Optimum condition obtained were 2.5 mm for particle size, 90% MC sub wb for initial moisture content and 200 rpm for shaft rotation speed.
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