Obiakor, S. C.
Processing and Storage Engineering Department, National Center for Agricultural Mechanization, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
Olotu, F. B.
Processing and Storage Engineering Department, National Center for Agricultural Mechanization, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
Okoro, N. O.
Processing and Storage Engineering Department, National Center for Agricultural Mechanization, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
Ademiluyi, Y. S.
Processing and Storage Engineering Department, National Center for Agricultural Mechanization, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
A survey carried out on conventional or
traditional method of dehulling roasted groundnut showed that the method
consumes time, energy, has low output and efficiency and is also hazardous to
health due to low level of hygiene involved. A motorized toasted groundnut
dehuller was developed at the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization
(NCAM), Ilorin Nigeria. The machine consists of four major chambers which are
hopper, dehulling, cleaning and the collecting chambers. The machine’s
performance was evaluated at a moisture content of 2.55% and at three different
operating speeds namely 210.3 rpm, 286 rpm and 357.5 rpm. The parameters
evaluated are; dehulling efficiency, cleaning efficiency, wholes percentage and
percentage losses. The data were optimized using the R software
version 3.4.3.Results show that the machine performed optimally at 210
rpm resulting to a maximum dehulling efficiency of 93.17%, cleaning efficiency
of 94.35%, wholes percentage of 84.4% and least percentage loss of 6.13%. It
was concluded from the results that the machine saved time and energy, reduced
material wastage and hazards and therefore is more efficient than the
conventional method. It is recommended that further
evaluations should be carried out on the machine at various toast seed moisture
content of the toast groundnut sample.
Keywords: Development, Performance, Dehuller machine, conventional method, efficiency
https://doi.org/10.33922/j.ujet_v5i2_2
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Published
Thursday, February 06, 2020
Issue
Vol. 5 No. 2, DEC. 2019
Article Section
GENERAL
The contents of the articles are the sole opinion of the author(s) and not of UJET.
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