IPB Students Invented Portable Distiller for Salt Production
The growth of salt importing in Indonesia has increased due to the increasing need for local salt. Based on Central Bureau of Statistics in 2009 – 2012, national consumption of salt reached 2.5 – 3 million ton per year, while during 2012-2015 it reached 3-3.5 million ton per year. Not to mention the recent issue of salt crisis that happened in Indonesia, while Indonesia, as a maritime country, should be able to meet the needs for local salt.
Based on those information, a group of students from Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and Department of Forestry Management, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) has invented a portable salt distiller electrically powered by solar panel that can accelerate salt production process and help salt farmers to increase their salt production. This innovation is included in Student Creativity Program of Karsa Cipta category (PKM-KC) 2018. They are Intan Hafiza, Ahmad Nur Aziz and Meri Apriyani, with their supervisor Dr. Akhiruddin Maddu, M.Si.
This machine consists of two main parts that are the distiller container and the power supply. The distiller container itself consists of heater element, container for distilled water, condenser for converting vapor into water, and wheels for mobilization. Whilst power supply part consists of the solar panel, the inverter to change DC electricity to AC electricity, the solar panel controller to stabilize the voltage that goes into the battery so that the battery will not easily damaged, and the battery to store the electricity power, also temperature controller to control the distiller temperature.
Solar panel is a device that “capture” solar energy to convert it into electrical power and then it flows into battery through the charge controller. Battery will store the electrical energy that will be flowed into inverter to be convert from DC electricity to AC electricity. The current will be use to heat up the heater element on distiller. Heater will heat up the sea water inside distiller container until it is evaporated, the sea water temperature inside the container is set to 100o C. Water vapor will flow up through condenser and condense into distilled water that is stored in distilled water container. As the sea water evaporation due to heating by heater, water content is decreased until all water is dried out and left the salt at the bottom of distiller which then can be harvested.
“This machine can contain up to 23 liters sea water to be distilled. For one cycle of sea water processing into salt requires 6 hours of heating. This machine can be used for a long time, in the perspective of solar panel usability which is relatively long, that ranges from 15 – 20 years. Utilization procedure for this machine is also very easy and it has been designed to be more simple and portable. Moreover, the produced salt is more hygiene and also has byproduct of clean water that can be used for various purposes. We hope this machine will increase the efficiency of salt farmers’ business in Indonesia, then increase national salt production volume so it can be an alternative solution and improve the issue of salt importing in Indonesia,” Intan conveyed. (qa)
