Design, Manufacture and Performance Evaluation of an Effective Dual Operated Groundnut Decorticator with Blower

Enoch Asuako Larson

doi:10.11648/j.ijmea.20170502.15

Abstract

A manual (hand operated or bicycle paddle) groundnut decorticating machine attached with a blower is designed, manufactured and its performance assessed. The main components of the machine were the frame, hopper, neck feed control gate, shelling drum, shaft running on bearings, a pneumatic type mechanism, concave sieve and a blower. The rest are pulley and sprocket, discharge outlet and belt drive. The assembled angle iron parts were welded together whiles the sheet metal parts were riveted to hold in position. Testing of the decorticating machine was assessed at three different moisture contents of groundnut (0, 5.1 and 9.3%) and three different levels of machine shaft speed (10, 20 and 30 rpm) all at an average feed rate of 25kg/hr. The results revealed that the decorticating machine’s optimum performance was at 20 rpm machine shaft speed with groundnut moisture content of 0% (purely dry), machine cracking efficiency and percentage groundnut fully cracked was 71.2% and 85.3% respectively. There was reduction in machine performance at machine speeds of 10 rpm and 30 rpm with 45.1%, and 49.7% machine cracking efficiency respectively for the same feed gate rate openings. This was because at a speed of 10 rpm, the nuts were partially cracked (41.6%) and that of 30 rpm and cracked (39.3%), the quantum of groundnut losses through the blower increased considerably leading to a reduction in the quantity of groundnut collected.

Highlights

Groundnut (Arachis Hypogaea L.) is known as peanut, earthnut, monkey nut and goobers [1], and in its various forms is one of the most commonest diets and a major cash crop in the Northern part of Ghana and an important sources of oil, vegetable protein, fat (40-50%), carbohydrate (10-20%) for both domestic and industrial need [2]
The performance evaluation results showed that the optimum performance is influenced by the tyre pressure in the hopper chamber, the groundnut moisture content and the machine spindle speed
The average feed rate was at 25kg/hr, the shaft cracking increased as the cracking efficiency increased

Summary

Introduction

Groundnut (Arachis Hypogaea L.) is known as peanut, earthnut, monkey nut and goobers [1], and in its various forms is one of the most commonest diets and a major cash crop in the Northern part of Ghana and an important sources of oil (kernel contains 42-52% oil), vegetable protein (kernel contains 20-50%), fat (40-50%), carbohydrate (10-20%) for both domestic and industrial need [2]. Peanut is grown on nearly 23.95 million ha worldwide with a total production of 36.45 million tons and an average yield of 1520 kg/ha in 2009. In. 2012, groundnut farmers produced 73,871.70 tons of groundnut from 84,910 ha with an average yield of 0.87 tons per ha, though 2 tons per ha was achievable under severe rain fed condition [4] as compared to China one of the world’s largest groundnut producers, with 40% of the world’s production, followed by India with 23%, a group of SubSaharan African (SSA) countries with 8% and the United States (US) with 5.6% [5]. In Ghana, groundnut is grown throughout the country, but it is mostly cultivated in the Northern regions where about 92% of the national production emanates [6]. The national per capita groundnut consumption was estimated at 0.61kg/week (0.03172 metric tons/year) and 80% of Ghanaians consume groundnuts or its produce at least once a week [7]

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Conclusion