DEHYDRATED WATER HYACINTH FIBER REMOVER

A Project Study
Presented to the Faculty of
College of Engineering
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Main Campus
Santa Cruz, Laguna

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

MELGIE MAE PEDRERA MATULIN

December 2018
 CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

Water Hyacinth or Eichhornia Crassipes is an aquatic plant native to sub-tropical

and tropical South America. They can grow on 1 meter in height and has a long,

spongy, bulbous stalks, being the fastest propagating plant on Earth. Its number is not

controlled and is now considered a pest. They dramatically affect water flow and blocks

sunlight from reaching native aquatic plant. The decay process depletes dissolved

oxygen in water, often killing fish and other marine animals.

Numerous ways have been introduced to control the number of Water Hyacinth

over the area. In the chemical method, where they spray herbicides and other

chemicals to kill the plants. This method generally gives the best and most effective

means of controlling the water hyacinth. But this method might not be suitable for large

areas, as the chemical might affect all the marine animals, plants and as well as

humans. However, this method requires the help of the professionals. The other method

is the physical/ manual or mechanical control. This method refers to the removal of

water hyacinth in infested water bodies. On small scale infestation, the manual/physical

removal is the best and for large scale infestation, machines like aquatic weed

harvesters and crusher boats are needed.

Nowadays, the local government created projects for the production of water

hyacinth based products which provided hundreds of livelihood jobs for the locals.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Water Hyacinth is a free-floating perennial plant that has dark green circular or

elliptical leaf blade that is attached to a spongy, inflated petiole. Underneath the water is

a thick, heavily branched, dark fibrous root system. It is a very aggressive invader and

can form into thick mats. If these mats cover the entire water surface they can cause

oxygen depletion and eventually fish kills. This is the reason why it is the mortal enemy

to the fishermen.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) together with

the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) launched a sustainable livelihood from

water hyacinth based products to the locals near water hyacinth infected areas. It is

hitting-two-birds-with-one-stone project that aims to decrease the number of water

hyacinth while giving the locals livelihood or extra income.

There are a lot of discovered water hyacinth based products such as briquettes,

papers and more, but what hit the market the most are the production of handicrafts

which were made by women who were trained to weave, scrape fibers and press the

stalks in order to make beautiful varieties of products such as baskets, bags, and

several home decors.

The only problem in the scraping process of the water hyacinth stalk is that it

takes a lot of effort where the scrapers just earn 25 centavos per stem. So, the

researchers propose a project to mechanically scrape the water hyacinth that could

speed up the process while maintaining the quality of the product.

Theoretical Framework
 The theoretical framework is supposed to help the reader make a logical sense

of relationships of variables and factors that have believed relevant to the problem so

the reader can understand the theory between them.

Physical Mechanisms of Rolling Friction

Even though it was not about the mechanisms of rolling friction, probably the first

significant step towards the understanding of rolling friction was by Coulomb in

1781. Based on the experimental studies, he proposed the two famous laws of rolling

friction, i.e., provided the materials are the same: Resistance to rolling is directly

proportional to the load and Resistance to rolling is inversely proportional to the

diameter of the roller.

The later studies showed that these laws are only approximately true; however, they are

commonly used as first approximation.

Since there is a relation of friction to area of contact, there is a need to reduce

the area of contact for the blade to scrape enough fiber needed for the project.

Theory of Abrassive Wear

Abrasive wear occurs when a hard surface or hard particles pass over a soft

surface, causing loss of material. However, the abrasive grooves can be found on the

wear tracks of the sliding friction between similar metals. It means that abrasive

particles may be formed during the wear process due to work hardening, phase

transformations and third body formation at the interface.

Hyacinth to remove the layers of fibers leaving only the outside layer of the stalk or the

skin.

Transmission

In mechanics, a transmission is a system or machine which provides controlled

application of power. Speed reducer is a kind of transmission. The primary use is to

multiply the amount of torque generated by an input power source to increase the

amount of usable work. They also reduce the input power source speed to achieve

desired output speeds. The wide variety of mechanical speed reducing devices includes

pulleys, sprockets, gears, and friction drives. Often, a transmission has multiple gear

ratios (or simply "gears") with the ability to switch between them as speed varies. This

switching may be done manually (by the operator) or automatically. Directional (forward

and reverse) control may also be provided. Single-ratio transmissions also exist, which

simply change the speed and torque (and sometimes direction) of motor output.

The project as a whole involves transmission of power and speed because of the

rolling elements to be used in the water hyacinth fiber remover.

Rotational Motion of a Rigid Body

A rigid body is an object with a mass that holds a rigid shape. Many of the

equations for the mechanics of rotating objects are similar to the motion equations for

linear motion. The angular displacement of a rotating wheel is the angle between the

radius at the beginning and the end of a given time interval. In principle, a wheel rolling
in a straight line without slipping has a forward displacement equal to the linear

displacement of a point fixed on the rim.

Since there are rolling elements used in the study, this theory relates to the study

as it describes the behaviour of the water hyacinth stem as it is being fed through the

rollers.

Conceptual Framework

Output
 Dehydrated Water Hyacinth Fiber Remover

Process

Fabricating:

Metal Cutting

Welding

Grinding

Drilling

Machining

Installation/ Assembly:

Motor

Rollers

Speed Reducer

Testing and Revisions

Evaluation

Input

Knowledge in:
 Machine Design

Machine Elements

Materials:
Bearing
Belts and Pulleys
Chain and Sprocket
Rollers
Abrassive Rollers
Speed Reducer
Electric Motor
Dehydrated Water Hyacinth

Different Tools and Equipments

The researchers are guided by the paradigm shown below for the construction of

a completed and working Dehydrated Water Hyacinth Fiber Remover.

Figure 1. Research Paradigm of the Study

Frame 1 represents the Input which consists of the knowledge in how to process

water hyacinths and the subjects involved for the construction of the prototype; material

selection for bearing to hold the shaft and reduce the friction, belt and pulleys for

transmission of speed and power to the other members, rollers as pressers and feeders

and the appropriate size of the electric motor as the prime mover and speed reducer for

reducing the speed and increasing torque; and lastly, the different tools and equipment

to be used in making the project.

Frame 2 shows the Process of fabricating the prototype such as metal cutting for

the casing, table and other parts of the prototypes, welding and grinding of the

stationary joints, drilling, and machining of the rollers needed; the installation of the

motor, rollers, and speed reducer. The process also involves evaluations - if the

prototype meets the standards of the study, and testing and revisions until it finally

come up to the desired results.

Frame 3 represents the Output which consists of the completed working project,

the Dehydrated Water Hyacinth Fiber Remover.

Objectives of the Study

This study aims to create a useful machine which is the Dehydrated Water

Hyacinth Fiber Remover.

• To determine/ specify the parts and components that will satisfy the design of the

“Dehydrated Water Hyacinth Fiber Remover” based on the standards

• To determine the performance of the machine in terms of:

• Production rate

• Scraping efficiency (good output over total output)

3. To determine the acceptability of the machine and output based on:

a. safety (machine)

b. ease of operation (machine)

c. quality of scraped hyacinth (output)

Significance of the Study

The researchers envisioned that this study provides advantages and various sets

of ideas to benefit the following:

Community

It will promote the continual operation and future expansion of livelihood program

of Water Hyacinth based handicrafts in every family in barangay and will also help in

reducing Water Hyacinth in the community.

Environment

The Dehydrated Water Hyacinth Fiber Remover is expected to help reduce

Water Hyacinth that affect the water flow, blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic

plants, and oxygen depletion resulting to fish kills.

This project will serve as an instructional aide during laboratory discussion

concerning applications of principles and concepts in Machine Design and Machine

Elements, also in the field of Environmental Engineering.

SariLikha / RolyoLikha of Pila, Laguna

The prototype produced will be for the usage of SariLikha in Pila, Laguna who

runs a livelihood program of weaving into different products the scraped dehydrated

water hyacinth.

Students / Researchers

This project will help the students and researchers in integrating and analyzing

the use of every machine element and understanding how mechanical system works.

Also, it will enhance their knowledge and skills in putting up ideas in developing project

studies and designs for new inventions and innovations.

Scope and Limitations

Most innovations made to mechanize water hyacinth stalk preparation are about

flattening and cutting. The study focuses instead on scraping preparation of water

hyacinth stalks for production of marketable goods.

The project has the capability to scrape a number of water hyacinth stalks at

reasonable rate compared to that of the manual. Compared to existing manual roller-

pressers, the project will be motorized to handle continuous operations. Just like the

conventional, blades are used for scraping the fiber out of the skin. Pressing it before
the scraping process will ease up the removal since it will have a uniform outer layer

thickness.

The project is limited to the pressing and scraping process and thus, the

preparation of stalks beforehand and the treatment after is not handled. Dehydrated

(dried) stalks shall be used, and different dehydration levels might result in different

quality of the product. The stalks’ skin need to be cut lengthwise to expose the inside

parts that will be scraped. Since the water hyacinth has a hollow part it is easier to cut

its inside to uniform parts. The resulting product might not be of the same quality as the

manual scraping and the project aims to determine what parts/components will work

best on the design to satisfy the standard.

Definition of Terms

Bearing. It is used in the machine to reduce friction between moving parts.

Belts and Pulleys. It refers to the flexible power transmitting mechanical elements that

seat tightly on a pair of pulleys and used to deliver the output power of the motor to the

other actuating machine.

Chain and Sprocket. It is used to transmit power from one shaft to another.

Dehydrated Water Hyacinth. It is the raw material that needs to be scraped.

Electric Motor. It is the prime mover of the machine that converts electrical energy to

mechanical energy.

Roller. It is used to feed and scrape the Dehydrated Water Hyacinth stems by rotational

motion.
Abrassive. The medium used to remove the Water Hyacinth fibers from the stalks

Speed reducer. It is used to reduce the rated rpm of the motor to the desired rpm of the

roller.