Development of a Compost Tea Brewer Machine
How to Cite?
Elman C. Torres, Emmanuel V. Sicat, Marvin M. Cinense, Carolyn Grace G. Somera, "Development of a Compost Tea Brewer Machine," International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology, vol. 69, no. 11, pp. 140-148, 2021. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V69I11P218
Abstract
The primary purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate the performance of a compost tea brewer machine. The specific goals were to solve the problem of the previous design of compost tea brewer machine with regards to the inability to maintain the aerobic condition of compost tea during the brewing process, inability to extract available nutrients and microorganisms available in compost, and design problems which result to difficulty in properly cleaning the machine. The developed machine was evaluated in terms of the quality of compost tea produced. Three settings of the rotational speed of the mixing vessel (1rpm, 3rpm, and 5rpm) were evaluated on brewing compost and its influence on the quality of compost tea produced. The data collected were analyzed using Random Complete Block Design, and the Least Significant Difference was utilized to compare treatment means. Blocking was done on each batch of produced vermicompost used in the study. Results showed that 5rpm setting of vessel mixing vermicompost gave a good quality of produced compost tea (dissolved oxygen of 6.43mg/L, electrical conductivity of 1.530mS-cm-1, pH level of 8.27, total bacterial count of 7.02log10 CFU/mL, total NPK content of 900mg/L, and seed germination index of 133.97%) which is above the minimum values set in this study. With a cost of PhP 43,033.00 for the compost tea brewer machine and a capacity of 100 Liters of compost tea for each brewing process, cost analysis revealed a breakeven of 45 brewing cycles per year and a payback period of 2.4 years.
Keywords
Aerobic Condition, Aerated Compost Tea, Aeration System, Compost Tea Brewer Machine
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