Design of a cocoa bean sorting machine

Abstract

Cocoa plantations have employed thousands of farmer families throughout Indonesia, as well as have been the third largest export among the plantation sub-sector after rubber and oil palm. Therefore, the potential for the development of the cocoa industry as one of the drivers of growth and income distribution is very open. Cocoa bean production in Indonesia continues to increase, but the quality produced is still diverse such as less fermented, not dry enough, uniform bean size, high skin content, high acidity, and very diverse flavors. In this research, efforts to overcome these problems are accomplished by designing a cocoa bean sorting machine that can separate clean cocoa beans and root debris from cocoa beans so as it is expected to make it easier for cocoa farmers, workers, entrepreneurs and industries to more easily get a cocoa bean sorting machine so that the quality of cocoa beans improves and their selling price increases. Seeing these challenges, the authors took the initiative to create a new design a cocoa bean sorting machine with a simpler and more precise design.