DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A MORINGA(OLIEFERA) SEED DECORTICATING MACHINE

Abstract

This study is about the development and performance evaluation of a machine for decorticating Moringa oliefera seeds. Performance rests were carried out using three levels of moisture contents (7.35, 10.35 and 13.35 %) and ar three levels of speeds (230 rpm, 330 rpm and 430 rpm), each one replicated three times. The optimum decorticaring and cleaning efficiencies of 95.07 and 92.20 % respectively were obtained ar 330 rpm and 7.35 % speed and moisture content respectively. The blower losses were 2.29 % and the undecorticated seeds was 16 %. The average kernel recovery efficiency was found to be 97.7 % The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the moisture content and speed have significant effect on both the decorticating and cleaning efficiencies of the machine at (P < 0.05), there was no interaction between the factors. The developed machine will reduce the drudgery involved in manual decortication and will save about 70 % operating time.