Development of Fish Scraps Shredding and Mixing Machine for Fish Emulsion Fertilizer Production

The use of organic fertilizers supports the sustainable agriculture of the Philippines through maintaining soil fertility and regaining the high yield and sustainability of the land. The development of fish scraps shredding and mixing machine can be of great help to the production of fish emulsion fertilizer in both quality and quantity. The study specifically covered the design, development and performance evaluation of the fish scraps shredding and mixing machine that was employed for fish emulsion fertilizer production. Preliminary tests were performed to establish operating conditions of the machine such as working capacity, shredding speed, mixing speed, mixing time and mixing capacity. The working capacity was found to be 750g of fish scraps. The shredding speed established was based on the variable frequency drive (VFD) at 50Hz which corresponds to 1800rpm. The actual performance of the machine was evaluated by determining the shredding rate and efficiency. Based from the results gathered from the performance evaluation of the machine, the shredding efficiency rate and efficiency was 164.19 g/s and 91.64%, respectively. The mixing capacity was 12kg of fish scraps and molasses with an acceptable mixing speed of 108 rpm, and a mixing time of 40 sec. For a 12 kg of fermented fish scraps and molasses mixture, the fish emulsion fertilizers extracted had a total mass of 8.2 kg which represented 68.33% yield for the mixture. The total NPK value of the produced fish emulsion fertilizer was within the standard range set by the Philippine National Standards for Organic Fertilizers.

Keywords – fish emulsion fertilizer, fish scraps, molasses, percent yield, shredding efficiency