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Dion,
Do you have an
accurate compositional analysis for prickly pears? Also are you talking about
the fruit itself here or the whole plant? Ideally the fruit/plant would need to
contain at least 50% of carbohydrate (preferably in the form of simple sugars,
or at least in the form of starches that can be broken down to simple
fermentable sugars) by dry weight. ie. with the moisture content
removed.
My own feeling is that it would not be too difficult
to design and make a plant to do this but first things first. Firstly try
to obtain an accurate compositional analysis.
Automated? Now that is where cost starts too creep
in.
As an outsider who dosnt know much about prickly pear
a number of other potential problems very quickly begin to suggest
themselves. some of the questions that need answering are as
follows.
1) How do you propose to harvest the fruit/plant?
2) Is this source able to be harvested all year round, or
strictly seasonable?
3) Who owns this resource? Is it on land owned by individual
farmers, native land, or the South African govt?
4) Is this resource renewable or would it be quickly
depleted?
5) Is this plant regarded as a noxious pest or is it regarded
as part of the natural enviroment which would quickly attract attention by
conservationists and other groups desirous of protecting it?
6) As I see it one of the problems that would probably quickly
present itself is that it is likely to have a fairly high fibre content which
will need to be got rid of immediately following the fermentation stage. ( Maybe
this can be done prior to fermentation where the juice is spun off using a
centrifugal separator). Is this likely to create a disposal problem? (Presence
of decomposition smells, landfill etc.). It is possible this could be dried
and used as your energy source. Maybe not as advanced a system as you want or
desire but one that could quickly solve the heat energy generation
requirement. The other major alternative is probably where the fibre if not
useable is dumped to decompose, or can be utilized in some other process, and
the use of photovoltaics to generate the energy requirements.
There are heaps of other questions but these need to be
answered first.
Regarding existing manufacturing plants there were quite a
number of people who set up in the 80s in the States but I
believe most of them have gone out of business or moved on to other things. Once
we know the composition of the plant and a few other parameters it should then
be fairly easy to decide what is required and advise accordingly. Hope this is
of some help. I look forward to hearing from you.
B.r., David
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