RICE HULL GASIFIER POWERED CREPING MILL

IN THE PRODUCTION OF PALE CREPE

A Research Paper
Presented to the Faculty of
Science Technology and Engineering Program
Zamboanga del Sur National High School
Pagadian City

In Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirement in
Science Research 3

by

Chrisryl Faye A. Calamohoy

John Aldysson P. Ramirez

Ernest J D. Yap

March 2018
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INTRODUCTION

The electric powered creping mill which is used nowadays uses electricity to

produce pale crepes therefore milling fee is present. In addition, when there will be

blackouts, the electric powered one won’t be able to work thus the processing will be

suspended until the electricity will return. On the other hand, one of the prominent

problems of the Philippines is the shortage of electricity. As the 12th-largest nation in the

world, the Philippines has a population of more than 100 million people spread over

7,000 islands, presenting several electricity infrastructure challenges [1]. Currently, the

country is facing growing concerns over resource adequacy in its power sector.

According to statistics, roughly 22 million residents of Mindanao, the country’s second

largest island, have been forced to endure regular rolling blackouts, which the

government says it will continue until at least 2015 as it scrambles to add more capacity.

Another problem is the solid wastes because there are a lot of solid wastes

specially the ones available on the farm that needs expensive equipment to be utilized and

there’s even a possibility that its energy recovery is low thus there’s a pull to gasification.

In a situation wherein fossil fuels or petroleum fuels are expensive and other sources are

defective this biomass gasification can provide economically practical system since any

biomass material can undergo gasification and given that appropriate biomass feedstock

is easily obtainable which is the case of agricultural systems. “There’s a problem that

solid wastes (available on the farm) are seldom in a form that can be readily utilized
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economically. As a result it’s often advantageous to convert this waste into more readily

usable fuel form like producer gas.”[2]

Furthermore, with the recent economic turmoil in China affected much the price

of rubber in the world market. The fact that about 90% of our rubber production is being

exported to Asian country particularly China makes it difficult for farmers to have a

breakeven in relation to expenses incurred.

“The common denominator of crepe rubber is the creping mill. Process stages

before and after the creping mill determine the grade specification will be dealt after the

creping process. There are various types of individual creping mill on the market.” [3]

These machines ranging from hand-driven mills to mills driven by a high speed diesel

engine or an electric motor and its processing methods affect the quality of the resulting

pale crepe. The kind of creping mill and the quality of the pale crepe including the

overhead costs affect the total production cost of the resulting pale crepe.

According to a study, “The production of useful rubber components involves

preparing a rubber compound which incorporates solid fillers and processing oil. The

quality and durability of the rubber components depend mainly on the completeness of

mixing of these ingredients into the rubber matrix.”[4] The processing stages affect the

resulting quality of the pale crepe. Chemicals and other materials are used to prepare the

rubber ready to be milled. Desired result will only be attained when all ingredients are

completely mixed into the standard rubber matrix.

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“Low on volatile Natural Rubber prices are considered undesirable in the context

of economic sustainability. Apart from providing essential raw materials for the

downstream activities, rubber is of paramount important socio-economically, as there are

more than 8 million rubber smallholders globally.”[5] Prices of Natural Rubber have

experienced extremely high and low prices all around the world in the past. Their grade

specification determine their prices and low-grade quality pale crepes prices’ are

considered unattractive and it will cause the rubber producers to have difficulty in having

a breakeven in relation to the expenses acquired. There are millions of rubber

smallholders around the world that can’t afford to have their own large machines to

produce high-grade quality pale crepes.

The purpose of conducting this study is to provide the farmers’ avenue to

maintain their production at a lower cost to compete with the corresponding increase in

prices of public utilities and other basic commodities. By using a rice hull gasifier

powered creping mill for the production, even small farmers can process their own

product with lesser effort and a better income due to reduced expenses instead of having

the rubber sap be milled in a rubber processing plant which will require them the

payment of milling fee due to the use of electricity and other overhead costs. This study

also aims to compare the effectiveness between the Electric Powered Creping Mill and

Rice Hull Gasifier Powered Creping Mill in terms of the time it takes to produce pale

crepe.
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It further investigates if there is significant difference on the quality of the

resulting pale crepe between the electric powered and rice hull gasifier powered one in

terms of color and the texture.

If the Rice Hull Gasifier Powered Creping Mill produce pale crepe at a much

lower price, takes shorter time to produce pale crepe and produce more excellent colour

and texture of pale crepe than the Electric Powered Creping Mill, then it is proven to be

more effective than the electric powered one.

This study is seen to be significant to the consumers since the cost of the pale

crepe produced by the product is much lesser; and this version will produce a gas that

will come out in the form of a blue flame when burning that means lesser smoke will be

produced, less smoke means reduced carbon dioxide emission in the environment.

“Instead of dumping rice husks along roadsides, it can now be converted into valuable

fuel that can help communities energize their street lights. The gasifier basically employs

a moving-bed downdraft gasifier reactor developed by CRHET in combination with gas

conditioning devices.”[6]

This study also helps the rubber planters for if they were to mill their products,

they can save money, because it has a lesser milling fee than the electric-powered one. To

the rubber producers because the product can be used even in brownouts, thus production

of pale crepe will not stop. Lastly, to the future researchers, for this study will provide

them new ideas in the aspect of rubber processing and production.