Worm Ova Separation System Design
Budget: £20 – £250 GBP
I need a complete, practical design for a small-scale batch system that can recover live worm ova from wet soil without resorting to chemicals. Each batch will start with about 2 litres (≈1–2 kg) of moist soil containing roughly 500 000 ova. The eggs measure 45-55 µm long by 20-23 µm wide and have a specific gravity of 1.21 ± 0.01, so the process must preserve their viability while working within that size and density window.
Mechanical separation is one route I’ll consider, I am open to any cost effective solution. Space is limited so I prefer a compact solution. And as always money is limited too. So off the shelf low cost solutions are preferred.
I’m open to sieving, vibration, and gentle agitation or centrifugation and filtration, —or a smart combination of any of those.
Your proposal should therefore focus on:
• Process flow: how the soil is conditioned, transferred, and progressively separated until clean, intact ova are collected.
• Equipment concept: A specific list of parts, equipment and devices to be purchased and assembled.
• Materials and sanitation: components must be easy to clean and safe for lab or field use; stainless steel or food-grade plastics are fine as long as no exotic substances are introduced.
• Performance targets: ≥50 % ova recovery, ≤0.1 % soil carry-over, cycle time fit for one 2 L batch.
• Drawings & specs: A list of parts and equipment with links for off the shelf purchase and assembly.
• Operating guidelines: A brief one page description of how the devices should be assembled and used. Keep it simple.
Acceptance criteria
1. Design documents are complete and ready for fabrication or pilot prototyping.
Feel free to reference proven lab sifters, vibratory tables, or fluidized bed concepts to shorten the development path, but the final package must be adapted to the specific ova dimensions and density stated above.
The document you hand me will be the entire deliverable, and should be sufficient for me to be able to buy and assemble what you specify as well as to use it.
Mechanical separation is one route I’ll consider, I am open to any cost effective solution. Space is limited so I prefer a compact solution. And as always money is limited too. So off the shelf low cost solutions are preferred.
I’m open to sieving, vibration, and gentle agitation or centrifugation and filtration, —or a smart combination of any of those.
Your proposal should therefore focus on:
• Process flow: how the soil is conditioned, transferred, and progressively separated until clean, intact ova are collected.
• Equipment concept: A specific list of parts, equipment and devices to be purchased and assembled.
• Materials and sanitation: components must be easy to clean and safe for lab or field use; stainless steel or food-grade plastics are fine as long as no exotic substances are introduced.
• Performance targets: ≥50 % ova recovery, ≤0.1 % soil carry-over, cycle time fit for one 2 L batch.
• Drawings & specs: A list of parts and equipment with links for off the shelf purchase and assembly.
• Operating guidelines: A brief one page description of how the devices should be assembled and used. Keep it simple.
Acceptance criteria
1. Design documents are complete and ready for fabrication or pilot prototyping.
Feel free to reference proven lab sifters, vibratory tables, or fluidized bed concepts to shorten the development path, but the final package must be adapted to the specific ova dimensions and density stated above.
The document you hand me will be the entire deliverable, and should be sufficient for me to be able to buy and assemble what you specify as well as to use it.