FABRICATION AND TESTING OF BIOMASS FIRED FURNACE

WITH AIR PREHEATER FOR RICE GRAIN DRYING

A Project Study
Presented to
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Department
College of Engineering
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
Manila

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Course Requirements for the Degree of
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Flores, Jhunking L.
Mangubat, Dhenil T.
Monroyo, Arvie G.
Rustia, Renzo M.
Velez, Aldrin E.

March 2019
 APPROVAL SHEET

The project study entitled FABRICATION AND TESTING OF BIOMASS

FIRED FURNACE WITH AIR PREHEATER FOR RICE GRAIN DRYING
prepared and submitted by FLORES, Jhunking L., MANGUBAT, Dhenil T.,
MONROYO, Arvie G., RUSTIA, Renzo M., and VELEZ, Aldrin E. in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING is hereby approved and accepted.
[

Approved by:

ENGR. JORGE B. YASAY

Adviser

ENGR. FLORENCIO G. BALANAY ENGR. BENEDICTO N. FORTALEZA

Panel Member Panel Member

ENGR. ELEXIS EDMOND LAUZON ENGR. CARLOS E. ZAPANTA

Panel Member Panel Member

ENGR. JORGE B. YASAY

Chairman

Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING.

ENGR. EDWIN G. MACALINTAL ENGR. BENEDICTO N. FORTALEZA

Department Head College Dean
 To our
Families...

To our Friends...

To our

Professors... To

Ourselves...

And to
God...

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 Acknowledgement

It is a pleasure to acknowledge those who helped for the completion of our project

study. This research would not be successful without the help and support of various

individuals, so the researchers would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the people

who have been part in the completion of this project.

First and foremost, to our Almighty God, He who has given us the knowledge,

blessing, wisdom and strength. Without Him, we couldn’t achieve anything.

To our loving parents who are always there to help and support us morally and

financially. This project could have been impossible without them. Their hard work for us

had been our inspiration throughout.

To our adviser, the Engr. Jorge B. Yasay for sharing his time, idea and knowledge

for the development and fulfilment of our project. We are thankful for his time and effort

in our project.

To our panel advisers, Engr. Benedicto N. Fortaleza, Engr. Florencio G. Balanay,

Engr. Elexis Edmond Lauzon and Engr. Carlos E. Zapanta. in sharing their ideas for the

improvement of our project. We are thankful they make time for us despite their busy

schedule.

To Engr. Joel A. Ramos, Dr. Arnold Juliano and to their engineering division of

Philippine Rice Research Institute for their technical guidance and assistance throughout

our project development. The institution guidance helps us to further improve our project.

To Mr. and Mrs. Aganon, and Mrs. Anita Mangubat, for welcoming us in their home

and accommodating us while we are doing our prototype. We are sincerely thankful for all

the help that you’ve given us.

The Authors
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 ABSTRACT

This study was primarily focused on the Fabrication and Testing of Biomass Fired

Furnace with Air Preheater for Rice Grain Drying.

This project was conducted to achieved the elimination of direct fire drying, reduce

the unwanted smell that the rice paddy gains during drying and fabricate and design an

effective air preheater for a biomass fired furnace for application of grain drying. The

system utilizes an Air Preheater that is used as an attachment in a Biomass Furnace for

drying rice paddy.

The proponents incorporated these features to address the problem observed with

the existing furnace of a flat-bed rice dryer: This is to lessen the unwanted smell that a

direct fire furnace produce and to enhance the advancement of using an Air Preheater for

Indirect-Fire Rice Grain Drying.

Testing the developed prototype reveals the following findings:

The developed prototype can accommodate 577 Kg of rice paddy per 8 hours of

operation and can dry a rice paddy achieving the required measures and standard parameters

for Rice Drying implemented by PhilRice. The drying time using the prototype when tested

was 8 hours for the 577 Kg of rice paddy with final moisture content of 13.9%. Utilizing

an Air Preheater as its medium of drying, it had remove moisture content at a rate of 0048

kgv. /kgd.a.. Also, our findings show that the Biomass Furnace with Air Preheater achieves

the desired output for Rice grain. The Prototype has a Theoretical Air Heater Thermal

Efficiency of 36.10% and a Furnace Capacity of 25.93KW.

Overall the dryer worked well and functioned according to its intended use and

purpose of developme

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