OPTIMIZATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF WOOD PLASTIC COMPOSITE EXTRUDER

This study involves the design and fabrication of a Wood Plastic Composite (WPC) extruding machine that recycle wood and plastic wastes; sawdust (SD) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into useful products for interior and exterior building applications. The machine was designed using locally sourced raw materials making it affordable, user friendly and can easily be maintained. The major components of the machine include; the melting and mixing chamber, extruding unit, heaters, control panel and discharged unit. PET chips were melted and mixed with SD at temperature 190 0C inside the melting chamber before feeding the extruding unit for thorough kneading. The extrudate is collected into a shaped mould, hot compressed and allowed to cool down before removal. A 4hp 3-phase electric motor was the prime mover. Analysis of performance test carried out on the extruder using three screw speed of 222 rpm, 277 rpm and 370 rpm shows that the best WPC was produced at speed 277 rpm with machine recycling efficiency of 89 %. It took 13 minutes to recycle a batch of the waste materials with a throughput of 0.8 kg/hr and specific mechanical energy of 145 kJ/kg. This machine gives effective waste management by turning it to wealth.