Assessment of the Ability of a Novel Machine to Separate Different Types of Substrate-Earthworm-Vermicompost Mixtures

A novel substrate-earthworm-vermiocompost separation (SEVS) machine is described which enables simultaneous, effective, clean, and rapid separation of finished vermicompost (vermicast), uncomposted substrate, and earthworms. The ability of the system was extensively tested with vermicomposted batches of paper waste, cow dung, and weeds-salvinia (Salvinia molesta), ipomoea (Ipomoea carnea), and lantana (Lantana camara). The effect of different batch sizes and also moisture content of the vermicast on the separation efficiency, with or without secondary separation, were tested. It is seen that SEVS machine achieves clean separation at all times and its precision is enhanced with the extent of pre-drying of the vermicast in the batch.