NAME: ADEBAYO AONULLAHI ADEWALE

MATRIC NO.: 120338

MODE OF OPERATION OF RASP MILL

A Rasp Mill was specifically designed for composting facilities. The figure presents a schematic

view of a Rasp Mill. The operation of a Rasp Mill is most easily compared to a kitchen sieve. The

Rasp Mill contains alternating screen segments with 25-44 mm size holes and shredding teeth. The

material is dragged in and around by a Rasping arm that turns above the screen at 8 to 10 rpm.

Easily shredded material such as kitchen and yard waste, glass, paper and cardboard, falls through

the screen after a retention time of about 20 minutes. More resistant items such as textiles, metals,

plastics and hard materials are caught up on the teeth segments and are periodically pushed out by

the Rasping arm through a side discharge.

Studies have shown that good selective size reduction can be achieved by using Rasp Mills. A

relatively low energy requirement is needed for the size reduction process. With cycles of 10 to 30

minutes, energy usage of 4 to 10 Kwh/t of raw waste and screenings recovery of 14 to 40% has

been measured. The energy content of the screenings relative to the Rasping cycle increased from

12.5 MJ at 10 minutes to 18.4 MJ in 30 minutes. The Rasping process therefore increases the heat

content of the waste stream’s combustible fraction.

Rasp Mills are now less frequently used in solid waste processing due to the following factors:

The size reduction action is less effective than that of hammer Mills. To achieve a similar reduction

effect with a hammer Mill, the Rasping time per batch would need to be approximately 20 minutes.

The energy usage of a Rasping screen is about 6 to 7 kwh/t, which is only 30 to 40% less than that

of a comparable hammer Mill.

A further disadvantage of a Rasp Mill is the intermittent nature of the operation. A relatively large

and expensive apparatus with a retention time of 20 minutes achieves a feed rate of only 6 t/h.

Fig.: Rasp Mill

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