PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF AN IMPROVED CASSAVA PELLETING MACHINE

Abstract

Pelleting is an important postharvest process that prepares agricultural products in cylindrical shaped forms for better storage, export and in the production of animal feed. The current high cost of feed has necessitated the crucial need to develop an efficient pelleting machine that will assist farmers to formulate their own feed for local consumption and export. The performance evaluation of an improved cassava pelletizer with mixing and conditioning section was evaluated at the operational speed of 250 rpm. The machine was powered by a 3.730 kW (5 h.p) electric gear motor and it comprises of hopper, barrel, mixer, screw conveyor, electric steam boiler, compression / extrusion plates, cutter, supporting frame and a power transmission unit. The extruding plate has die openings of 4 mm to produce the recommended cassava pellet size suitable for export. The average moisture content of the dewatered cassava mash used for the evaluation was 25 %. Also, the steam boiler used for the conditioning produced saturated steam at a temperature of about 103 oC. The result of the machine performance test indicates that the machine has average throughput capacity and efficiency of 151.74 kg/hr and 94.48 % respectively. The average diameter and length of the cassava pellet produced was 3.96 and 9.76 mm, respectively. The machine can be further optimized for cottage industry applications.