DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF OFF-FIELD HYDRAULIC MOBILE RICE STRAW BALER

Abstract

Majority of rice straw still unused, together with the unfavorable effects of field burning, environmental pollution and GHG emissions caused by it. Same time, straw baling has not been improved much to fit small-scale farming systems. Therefore, a small-scale mobile baler for baling straw piles created by stationary threshers or collected after combine harvesters has been developed to provide suitable bales’ weight and dimensions to fit small-scale farmers’ need and easy to be handled. The hydraulic based baler was manufactured in local workshop to be operated by 5-10 hp engine or 3 to 10 hp electrical motor. Manufactured baler has been tested and evaluated in International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines during year 2013-2014. Major components of baler were; hydraulic system consisted of vane pump, top-ported pressure filter, pressure gauge, sight gauge, return filter and piston with 600 mm, 0.083 m/s and 0.069 m/s stroke length, forward speed and return speed respectively; baler body with compression chamber has dimensions of 600 x 350 x 450 mm (height x width x length); and transmission systems. Testing and evaluation of the baler gave chance to enhance baling mechanism and its reliability. The relations between straw characteristics, moisture content (MC) and bales density have been addressed, where 244.63 kg m-3 average bales density obtained from threshed straw with 49.84 % average MC with 23.63 kg average weight. For lower MC, 6.31, 7.77 and 8.21 % bales density were 130.37, 145.63 and 137.53 kg m-3 respectively for different rice straw. Baling straw with same characteristics at different MC reduced bales density by 21.3 % when MC reduced from 25.23 to 7.77 %. Baling shorter straw gave higher bales density with 293.22 kg m-3 with 28.33 kg average bales’ weight. Rice straw baled under low moisture content when gets stored indoors for 22 days, always had an increase in its moisture content as well as the density. Also, for the verities that stored indoors long time (62 days), moisture content increased.