Vol. 11, Special Issue 6 (2022)

Author(s):
Divya Dewangan, Dr. VM Victor and Nisha Verma

Abstract:
In this study an appropriate automatic pot making machine suitable for use in rural community was selected for its performance evaluation. The performance of the machine was evaluated for making pots by using cattle dung as a base material and different agriculture residues such as rice husk, rice straw, saw dust and coco peat which were mixed with dung. The properties like shattering index, water absorption capacity and moisture content after drying of produced pots were determined for different treatments. Each treatment comprises mixture of selected agriculture residue and cattle dung. Rice starch and soil was used as a binding material for making pots with biomass. Results revealed that physical properties of the pot were significantly affected by the binder level. Rice starch has a best binding quality for pot making. Rice is a source of starch that is organic, bland gel, white in colour and as a gel smooth in texture and creamy consistency. The study indicated that pots having more cattle dung content i.e. 15:03:02 ratio, in which cattle dung have 15, soil have 03 and other agriculture residues have 02 parts on weight basis. These pots made using above said ratio of raw material gave better results for shattering index and resistance to water penetration. The study concluded that pots produced from mixture of cattle dung and agriculture residues at different proportion could be serving as many ways cattle dung cake and logs alternative source of energy for domestic cooking. The performance of the machine was based on the capacity of developed machine was determined in terms of time required to prepare one pot and number of pots prepared in one hour for each treatment. Results obtained showed that average time required to prepare one pot was 1 min 34 sec. The testing and evaluation of prepared pots as per treatment, after drying was carried out to see the different parameters like shattering index, water absorption capacity, drying time, pot size and shape. The average shattering index of produced pots was 87.4%. The average water absorption capacity of pots produced by using cattle dung as a base material and other agricultural wastes was obtained as 1.26%. Mean values of moisture content of produced pots after drying was 12.21%.