Design And Development of a Modified Sugarcane Juice Extracting Machine (Trapiche) for Small Scale Farmers

Abstract

Small scale farmers are facing challenges with the current sugarcane juice extracting machine due to its constrained feeding capacity, resulting in reduced product output and loss of raw materials since significant amount of juice is left in the bagasse, which is eventually disposed of. The goal of this project is to create a modified trapiche, a machine that extracts sugarcane juice, for small-scale farmers. The sugarcane juice extraction machine was created to either completely remove or, if that is not feasible, to reduce issues with the use of the current equipment, such as the feeding system, juice production, and the quantity of juice that was left in the bagasse for disposal. Most of the parts of the locally developed sugar cane juice extracting machine were locally fabricated like rollers, conveyor and its rollers, bearings, shafting, and bushing. Additionally, the layout and diagrams of the system were key factors in the development of the machine, ensuring its safety and functionality. The findings indicate that the operating time, speed and capacity of the developed sugarcane juice extracting machine with the values 23.67s, 30rpm and 168.99g/s are much better than the existing trapiche with the values of 36s, 15rpm and 83.37g/s respectively which proved that the developed sugarcane extractor is more efficient and reliable. Similarly, the average production rate, extraction efficiency and percent yield of the developed sugarcane extracting machine with the quantities of 55 ml/s, 86.30 percent and 34.59 percent are better than the existing trapiche with the values of 21.29 ml/s, 52 percent and 32.89 percent respectively. Since laboratory testing revealed that the E. Coli bacteria was absent with a detection limit of less than 3.0 MPN/g and the Salmonella bacteria was absent from the sample juice of 25 ml, the juice extracted from the developed sugarcane juice extracting machine is safe from both bacteria. With detection limits of less than 0.02 ppm, less than 0.01 ppm, and less than 0.015 ppm, respectively, metal concentrations, in particular nickel, copper, and chromium, were also examined but were not found.