Construction of a hammer mill for laboratory use to homogenize biomass

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the construction of a low-cost compact size hammer mill for laboratory use. Reduce the particle size of various materials to study their physicochemical properties by building a hammer mill. The hammer mill was built with materials that can be obtained in warehouses of industrial equipment and vehicle waste. The construction methodology was based on precision mechanics and metalworking. Desarrollos Tecnológicos Teck S. A. and the Biomass Laboratory of the School of Chemistry of the University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica, in 2020.  Residual lignocellulosic materials were ground from the empty fruit oil palm cluster (Elaeis guineensis), the nutshell of the Coyol fruit palm (Acrocomia spp.), rocks, coconut shell, wood, sludge, and aluminum slag. The construction of the hammer mill is compact and versatile because it allows grinding a wide variety of materials for research processes that require the reduction of organic and inorganic materials. Due to its modest size, it can be placed in a laboratory and since its power supply is 110 volts, no special requirements are necessary.