Design and Manufacture of a High Efficiency Decorticator for the processing of Hemp Stalk

Abstract

Wild hemp grows abundantly in the northern areas of Pakistan due to favorable environmental conditions. Majority of wild hemp is wasted by being burnt. Our aim is to bring this hemp, which is of great essence, to use. The fact that hemp is present in very large quantities across the northern areas of Pakistan makes our project sustainable. Presently, the cheapest option to process local hemp is to import hemp decorticators from China that cost PKR 300,000 per machine. Moreover, these decorticators are manufactured to cater the need of China. Since hemp plants in China vary in length and diameter from the hemp plant in Pakistan, the Chinese machine is both expensive and inefficient for processing local hemp. To overcome this shortcoming, our plan was to design and manufacture a high-efficiency hemp decorticator for the processing of local hemp. We plan to manufacture a Hemp Decorticator at a reasonably lower price of around PKR 65,000 which best fits our local hemp which is both smaller and weaker. This decorticator will first peel off the primary fibers contained on the circumference of the hemp stalk, and then, it will shred the wooden core. With this machine manufactured, we can develop a local hemp decorticator market which is cost-efficient. We initiated our project with a detailed literature review of the hemp plant and visited different parts of Islamabad where hemp was grown to get a range of the lengths and diameters of hemp plants that grow in Pakistan. After we were done doing our research, the next step was to come up with a design and prepare a CAD model of hemp decorticator. After several failed attempts and consult with our faculty advisor, we finalized our design. Once all the drawings were complete, our team stepped into the fabrication stage. We divided our team into two groups of two to speed up the fabrication. The main problems we faced while completing our project was material availability, costs and design complexity. Four mechanisms are used in our manufactured hemp decorticator namely roller mechanism, peeling-off blades mechanism, crank mechanism and shredder mechanism. The whole design, working, power calculations, force calculations and all other details are shared in the report. Following details are shared in the report:  Sustainability and Advantages of Hemp  Design and Manufacturing  Machine Calculations