The article is concerned with energy conservation in the process of cleaning grain. The study aimed to find ways of reducing energy consumption when cleaning food grains by using energy-saving operating modes (ESOM) on the production lines of grain storage facilities. For this purpose, experimental tests were performed which involved studying the effects of physical and chemical properties of grain as well as the influence of various operating modes of the production lines on the specific energy consumption (SEC), which was found to be the most informative indicator for determining ESOM. The mathematical description of the target function was carried out by conducting a multifactorial experiment with the application of the orthogonal central composite design (OCCD) of the second order. Calculations produced a number of mathematical models describing the dependence of the response function on the input parameters. The proposed approach made it possible to obtain the minimum SEC for cleaning food grains and to develop practical recommendations for ways to reduce energy consumption, which resulted in the development of scientifically based SEC standards for a grain cleaning machine.
As a result of energy assessment of a pneumatic sieve separator for agricultural crops it was determined that the specific energy consumption of the experimental pneumatic sieve separator was 0.18 kW·year·t−1. It is lower than in case of its domestic and foreign equivalents. For instance, the specific energy consumption of the separator of preliminary grain purification called SPO-50 (Ukraine) is 0.31 kW·year·t−1, and that of the machine of preliminary grain purification called MPO-50 (Russia) is 0.38 kW·year·t−1. Specific energy consumption of a pneumatic sieve separator is 1.72-2.11 times lower than in case of its domestic and foreign counterparts.
The analysis of statistical data showed that a large amount of plant waste is generated annually in oil and fat production plants, which must be processed and reused. The paper analyzes the problems of reusing sunflower oil production waste, which is characterized by a relatively high energy value: 1 ton of plant waste is equivalent to 0.625 tons of conventional fuel. According to the mathematical estimation, the actual total amount of impurities is 7.29%, in which major impurities constitute 25.7%. Studies have shown a high probability of oil – containing impurities – 37.25%. Therefore, it is recommended to process such impurities into fuel briquettes and technical oil to increase the profitability of sunflower oil production. For example, at the annual load of technological equipment of the Melitopol Oil Extraction Plant, in 250 days, at a daily processing capacity of 550 t˙day-1, an annual profit of 560,000 EUR is obtainable from the sunflower grain impurities processed into fuel and technical oil.
The research was aimed at reducing the power consumption for grain cleaning by using energy-saving modes in the electromechanical systems of grain cleaning units. Specific consumption of active energy per production unit was adopted as a criterion for assessing energy-saving operation modes. The applied method of mathematical experiment planning (MEP) reduced the number of experiments to a minimum to obtain a reliable mathematical model of the research object. To determine the optimal specific power consumption, a theoretical method was developed to rebuild the mathematical model. Thus, the minimum specific power consumption of grain cleaning production lines was obtained, which allowed developing science-based rates of power usage that allow energy savings up to 8-10%.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.