DefinePK

Abstract

A pelletizing machine for the production of fish feed was designed and developed. It consists of a hopper, barrel which houses the screw conveyor (auger), the cutting knife and the die orifice. The machine is driven by a 2 kW, 1420 rpm single phase electric motor. The performance evaluation of the machine was carried out. The aim was to investigate the effects of moisture contents and the speed of operation on the performance of the machine. It was observed that the pelletizing efficiency, throughput capacity and the percentage recovery of the machine increased with the increase in moisture content and the speed of the machine. The machine showed higher throughput capacity of 19.7 kg/h with maximum pelletizing efficiency of 87.6%. Moisture content constituted a greater portion of variability in efficiency than speed. A unit increase in moisture content resulted in an increase of about 20% in pelleting efficiency whereas a corresponding unit increase in speed only increased the pelletizing efficiency by 3%. The machine does not make use of steam thereby making it easier to operate. The adoption of the pelletizing machine by small and medium scale farmers would go a long way in helping them to produce their own feed with local contents thereby alleviating the problems associated with the sourcing of imported feeds.