Abstract:
Kitchen garbage, in general, is getting to be a big problem in urbanized area. Usually,
in Sri Lanka municipal councils collect kitchen garbage once a week. Thus, week-long
garbage at homes creates a strong unpleasant smell. One of the main reasons for the
bad smell is moisture content in the garbage. The purpose of this study is to reduce the
moisture content in the kitchen garbage using solar energy. Used coconut pulp is used
as the representative for the experiments as it contains a high amount of moisture.
Variation of the moisture content with temperature was analyzed using TGA/DTA
analysis. An affordable solar dryer was designed to dry the kitchen garbage before
being stored for the weekly collection. There are two compartments in the design,
namely, a solar collecting chamber and a sample chamber. Current performance of the
dryer shows a temperature of about 60 °C in the sample chamber and it can remove
about 20% of the moisture present in the used coconut pulp.
Citation:
Alahakoon, A.M.M.T., Kandewaththa, T.H., & Galhenage, A.S. (2019). Solar powered domestic waste dryer
[Abstract]. In V. Sivahar & H.S. Sitinamaluwa (Eds.), Dreams to reality through innovative materials (p. 16). Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa.
