Performance evaluation of a refitted hydraulic press using for water hyacinth dewatering

This article describes the design and construction of a refitted hydraulic press used for water hyacinth dewatering. The performance under different pressures of the press was investigated. The press system mainly composed five parts: support frame, round press plates, cylindrical sieve vessel, collection bucket and hydraulic power system. When the pressure increased from 10 MPa to 35 MPa, the residues water content decreased from 87.6% to 81.3% and the fresh water hyacinth volume reductions rate rose from 35% to 77%, and the average WHPJ production was 0.32 kg per kg fresh water hyacinth. The physicochemical characteristics of WHPJ such as pH, EC, SS, COD, TN and TP all varied with the pressure increasing. When the pressure increased from 10 MPa to 20 MPa the content growth rate of per parameter was small, but the pressure continue to increase the content of all parameters are rapidly rising, pH and EC excepted, the WHPJ characteristics can be adjusted by different pressures. According to the experimental results, it may be inferred that this press was shown to be suitable for water hyacinth dewatering of having evident waste reduction and efficient of juice production.