Environment friendly machine, a boon to mill owners

by Surekha GALAGODA

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Inventors are a rare breed as they think and do things differently and we need more of them to develop our country.

Nalin Viraj Uthurawala is one such inventor from Madampalla, Katana. A graduate of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura he has invented a coco dust screening machine which has many benefits and among them is sifting the coconut dust from the coconut peat without it being released to the environment.

He said that Sri Lanka has the best coconut fibre in the world; earlier it was discarded as waste. Today there is a high demand for coconut peat based products from all over the world as a medium to plant trees, as well as seeds.

But to cater to that demand the coconut peat should be devoid of particles such as small pebbles, nails, grass and other bits and pieces of leaves and grass.

After drying the coconut peat it is sifted to remove the unwanted particles but as the factories practise old methods to sift it, the workers inhale the dust while it pollutes the environment too.

Up to now no other machine can separate the coconut peat and unwanted particles.

He said the coco dust screening machine invented by him is environment friendly as it separates the coconut peat and the unwanted particles and grades the coconut peat too. The machine separates the coconut peat and the unwanted particles.

The machine can clean and sift three tons within ten hours and the grade one and two coconut peat is collected in separate bags. There is no sound at all and it comes with a two-year guarantee.

He said when the dry dust is put into the machine it sieves it according to the grades and removes the unwanted particles and it gets collected in separate bags. Once the bags are full the bags have to be replaced.

The machine can be installed in an area of 110 feet. It runs on a 2HP motor. Explaining the reasons for him to invent such a machine, he said, "I own a coconut fibre mill and our village is full of fibre mills as raw materials are freely available but all owners encountered problems as there was no way to separate the unwanted particles.

Using old methods created environment problems, the percentage of unwanted particles was high, workers disliked the work, it posed health problems to workers and the coconut peat was rejected by buyers due to the high content of unwanted particles.

"I turned out the machine one year ago and have sold a few machines too.

There are many advantages in using the machine and it also minimises environment pollution, increases productivity, low maintenance cost, solves workers' problems, protects workers from sickness, removes unwanted particles from the coconut fibre and above all it is a high quality product.

Uthurawala said that the machine can be used in the tea industry as well to separate the leaves from unwanted particles.

This machine will help our country to earn much needed foreign exchange from coconut peat which was discarded as waste some time ago.

According to his findings there is no other machine in the world that can sieve the coconut peat and remove the particles while also grading it.

Outlining his future plans, he said that he wants to eliminate the damage to the environment by the coconut peat and attract more people to this lucrative industry which has a big demand.

He aims to supply the machine to about 50% of coconut fibre mill owners by 2010.

He is keen to set up a workshop but the capital is a drawback and this has affected his sales as he does not have a machine to display it to clients who want to purchase it.

At present he is trying to set up a workshop with funds from the Sri Lanka Inventors' Commission. A past student of Godigamuwa Maha Vidyalaya he has one daughter. His wife is a field officer at the Department of Census and Statistics.

Uthurawala thanked Jiffy Industries, the Sri Lanka Inventors' Commission, his parents, brother and sister as well as his wife for all the support extended to him.