Development and Preliminary Evaluation of Jatropha Curcas Fruit Decorticator
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Date
2020
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Publisher
Nigeria Institution of Agricultural Engineers
Abstract
The local ways of decorticating Jatropha Curcas fruits using mortar and pestle or by cracking
with hand is time consuming, unhygienic, labour intensive and grossly inadequate to meet the
present demand of Jatropha seeds processing and other value-added products in the country as
the oil from the seeds can serve as alternative fuel for diesel engines. To overcome these
challenges, variables that influence this very important decorticating process require proper
attention. A Jatropha Curcas fruit decorticator was designed and it consists of feed hopper,
threshing unit, frame, bearings, and shell outlets. The design of the machine was based on the
selected engineering properties of Jatropha fruits and all materials used for the construction were
sourced locally. The machine was evaluated for its performance and data obtained from the test
were analyzed statistically with software SPSS 18 using a 3×3 factorial experiment in a
Completely Randomized Design. The results showed that the highest decorticating and cleaning
efficiencies were 93.9 % and 98.4 % respectively while the highest percentage seed loss and
mechanical damage index were 12.5 % and 6.3 % respectively. The study also revealed that the
decorticating efficiency, cleaning efficiency, seed loss and mechanical damage index increased
with increase in decorticating speed. This machine could make large scale production of
biodiesel from Jatropha Curcas achievable.
Description
Keywords
Design, Fabrication, Jatropha Curcas, Preliminary evaluation, Decorticating