An Overview of Production, Processing, Marketing and Utilisation of Okra in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 9 (2007): An Overview of Production, Processing, Marketing and Utilisation of Okra in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria. Manuscript MES 07 002. Vol. IX. July, 2007

Comparative evaluation of the digester-screw press and hand operated hydraulic press for oil palm fruit processing

Abstract In order to demonstrate the strength and possible weaknesses of the digester-screw press (DSP) system for small-scale oil palm fruit processing, a comparison was made of its performance and that of the erstwhile hand-operated hydraulic extraction system. Indices of evaluation include oil yield and quality, and operational economics. The results indicate that the throughput of the DSP system was four folds of that of the hydraulic system, whilst also operating at higher oil extraction efficiency (89.1%). There was no significant difference between the quality of the palm oil obtained from the two systems. However, the economic analysis of the systems indicates that at throughput of 0.75 t/h and above, the DSP system was more economical than the hydraulic system in terms of equipment, labour, material and floor space requirement and revenue accruing from the processing operation.

Development of Multi Seeds Oil Expeller

Multi seeds oil expeller was designed fabricated and evaluated using screw press principle. It was designed and fabricated based on the data obtained on the properties of the oilseeds. The performance of the machine was carried out using a 3 x 3 x 3 factorial experimental design with the following type of seeds (palm kernel, soya bean and groundnut seed), worm shaft speed of 47.6, 87and 92 rpm, and moisture content of 5, 10, and 15 %  w.b as factors. Data collected include oil yield, volumetric flow rate of oil, throughput capacity and efficiency of the machine. The results showed that increase in moisture content as stated has direct effect on oil yield and efficiency of the expeller, but has an inverse effect on volumetric flow rate for the three oil seeds. Increase in worm shaft speed as stated increased oil recovery for palm kernel from 19.1 to 23.0%, soya beans from 0.0 to 16.0% and groundnut from 7.3 to 31.7%. Increase in worm shaft speed as stated increased the oil yield, throughput capacity as well as the efficiency of the machine for all the oil seeds. The efficiency increased from 39.4 to 52.1%; 0.0 to 82.1% and 53.1 to 72.0% for palm kernel; soya bean and groundnut, respectively. These results were found to be significant (p<0.05) when tested using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan’s multiple range test.  The study concluded that, the developed multi-seed expeller performed well within the conditions of operation and could have a potential for improving the production of vegetable oil if adopted by small and medium scale processors

Performance Evaluation of a Kenaf Decorticator

The  performance  evaluation  of  an  existing  kenaf  decorticator  was  carried out  in  this  study. A  field  was  planted  with  kenaf  at  the  Teaching  and  Research  Farm  (T&RF) of  the  Obafemi  Awolowo  University,  Ile  Ife.  The  field  was  maintained  and monitored  until  the  kenaf  was  10  weeks  old  when  the  evaluation  of  the machine  commenced.  The  kenaf  decorticator  was  evaluated  using  different operation  parameters,  which  include  plant  age  (10,  11  and  12  weeks  after planting),  kenaf  stem  size  (small,  medium  and  large)  and  decorticator speeds  (520,  600  and  680  rpm)  giving  rise  to   a  3  by  3  factorial experiment.  The  result  showed  that  the  highest  mean  of  throughput  value generated  was  614.70  kg/h  when  the  machine  was  operated  at  600  rpm  using large  kenaf  size  harvested  at  12  weeks  after  planting.  The  percentage  of kenaf  fibre  trapped  in  the  machine  decreased  from  24  to  13%  as  the  speed decreased  from  600  to  520  rpm  and  percentage  waste  collected  decreased from  54  to  32.  The  percentage  of  fibre  decorticated  also  increased  from 31  to  49%  as  the  speed  decreased  to  520  rpm..  The  kenaf  extraction efficiency  increased  from  74  to  91%  as  the  speed  deceased  to  520  rpm, kenaf  size  was  large  and  at  12  weeks  after  planting.  The  study  concluded that  the  optimal  operational  parameters  of  the  machine  were  520  rpm  with large kenaf size and 12 week of kenaf maturity

Performance Evaluation of an Oil Palm Fruit Screen

An oil palm fruit screen was designed (in the Research Engineering Division of NIFOR) to separate calyx from oil palmfruits ( prior to fruit sterilization) and to clean fruits, thereby improving oil palm fruit quality in the Small Scale ProcessingEngineering (SSPE) used at NIFOR. Pre-sterilization cleaning of fruit by the removal of calyx is a common practice byNigeria Small Scale Palm Oil producers. They manually pick palm fruits or repose fruits along inclined wire gauze toachieve the separation of calyx from fruits. These manual methods are slow, expensive in labour demands and arduous,hence the screen machine was developed to mechanise fruit cleaning. In the evaluation of the machine, oil palm fruitnaturally containing calyx were screened. Known weights of palm fruit and calyx mixed in various proportions were alsoscreened in the machine. Consistently, over 80% of the calyx were separated from fruit whenever a mixture of fruit andcalyx passed through the machine once. This result shows that the incorporation of this screen machine in the SSPEenhances pre-sterilization cleaning of palm fruits thereby improving the fruit quality in the Small Scale ProcessingEquipment. KEY WORDS: oil palm fruit screen, oil palm fruit, calyx removal, fruit cleaning, practice, technology innovation, small scale farmers, Nigeria Résume Un écran pour noix de palme a été conçu au sein de la Division de Recherches Technologiques, Département d'Ingénieriepour Transformation à petite échelle (l'Institut Nigérian pour la Recherche sur l'Huile de Palme - NIFOR) afin de séparerle calice et les noix de palmier à huile avant la stérilisation du fruit, dans le but de nettoyer les fruits, améliorant de ce faitla qualité de la noix de palmier à huile. Le nettoyage des noix de palme avant leur stérilisation qui consiste à séparer lecalice du fruit, est une pratique courante chez les petits producteurs du Nigeria. Ceux-ci trient manuellement les noix depalme ou les font glisser sur des treillis métalliques inclinés afin de séparer le calice de la noix. Ces méthodes manuellessont lentes, onéreuses et elles consomment du temps et d'énergie. C'est dans cette optique que la machine avec un écrana été développée afin de mécaniser le nettoyage des fruits. Lors de l'évaluation de la performance de l'écran, on a utilisédes fruits de palme à huile contenant naturellement le calice. En plus, des noix et calices préalablement pesés étaientmélangés dans diverses proportions, et séparés ensuite dans la machine. A plusieurs reprises, plus de 80% de calicesétaient séparés des noix d'un coup, toutes les fois que l'on a fait passer le mélange de noix et de calices à travers lamachine. Ces résultats prouvent que l'utilisation de cette machine dans l'ingénierie de transformation à petite échelle vapermettre l'augmentation du degré de nettoyage du matériel, avant la stérilisation. Mots clés: machine à écran, noix de palme, calice, séparation, nettoyage, innovations technologiques, petits producteurs,NigeriaDiscovery and Innovation Volume 15 Number1/2 June (2003) pp. 70-7

A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF HAMMER MILL AND GRATER FOR GARI PRODUCTION

An investigation was carried out to determine the comparative performance of hammer mill and grater in gari production. The grater and hammer mill were used to pulverized cassava tubers and the dewatered mash of the samples. The throughput of 1002.7 and 1440 kg/h comminution and pulverization respectively) than the grater (with a throughput of 356.7 and 42.9kg/h respectively). The sieve analysis of the pulverized mash and gari shows that hammer mill communites finer than the grater. There is a difference in the swelling capacities of gari from both machines with that of the grater being greater than that of the hammer mill. The resulting gari products from both machines however meet the ASAE standards in terms of quality. With regards to energy use the hammer consumes more energy than the grater. In general, the higher output of the hammer mill and the corresponding fitness of the products into the required range of standard accords it a higher potential in substituting other size reduction machines in large scale gari production

A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF HAMMER MILL AND GRATER FOR GARI PRODUCTION

An investigation was carried out to determine the comparative performance of hammer mill and grater in gari production. The grater and hammer mill were used to pulverized cassava tubers and the dewatered mash of the samples. The throughput of 1002.7 and 1440 kg/h comminution and pulverization respectively) than the grater (with a throughput of 356.7 and 42.9kg/h respectively). The sieve analysis of the pulverized mash and gari shows that hammer mill communites finer than the grater. There is a difference in the swelling capacities of gari from both machines with that of the grater being greater than that of the hammer mill. The resulting gari products from both machines however meet the ASAE standards in terms of quality. With regards to energy use the hammer consumes more energy than the grater. In general, the higher output of the hammer mill and the corresponding fitness of the products into the required range of standard accords it a higher potential in substituting other size reduction machines in large scale gari production

Assessment of Fufu Production Technologies in Ogun State, Nigeria

The quality of fufu has been known to vary from one location to another. The processing technique may be responsible for this variation in quality. A study was carried out to investigate the different processing technologies adopted for production of fufu from cassava at different processing centres in Abeokuta and Ilaro, Ogun State. Hundred fufu processing centres were randomly selected, while data was collected using structured questionnaire, sensory analysis and physical observation. Information about the ownership, operator, enterprise, source of water supply, unit operations alongside their equipment and the waste disposal methods were gathered. Results showed that most fufu processing centres were owned by individuals. Most of the unit operations were carried out manually usually by women with low education level. Plastic drums and concrete pots were commonly used for soaking cassava for 3-5 days. Cassava mash is sun-dried for an average of 2.79±1.1 days and packaged into nylon or jute bags. Cassava peel and chaff are often reused while the wastewater is either drained into pits or left unattended to. Delay in processing cassava tubers, increase in the length of soaking, ineffective dewatering method, unhygienic source of water for fufu processing, etc. were some of the factors observed to affect the physical quality of fufu. Statistical analysis shows that the categories in most of those unit operations do not have equal probabilities of occurrence in the population. It is therefore imperative to develop appropriate technologies affordable by the small scale processors for the people in the area

Effect of Pre-Processing Conditions on Oil Point Pressure of Sheanut (Vitellaria paradoxa) Kernel in a Hydraulic Press

Oil point pressure of sheanut kernel was determined under different pre-processing conditions of moisture content, heating temperature, heating time and particle size. Results show that the pressure decreased as moisture content the kernel increased from 4% to 6%, and thereafter, increased with further increase in moisture content. It equally decreased with increase in temperature and heating time. Highest oil point pressure value was 2.6389MPa for coarse kernel particles at 4% moisture content heated at 50oC for 5min, and 1.5554MPa for fine particles at 10% moisture content heated at 50°C for 5min. Lowest value for coarse and fine kernel particles was 0.929MPa and 0.6380MPa respectively and this was obtained at the conditions of 6% moisture content, 100oC and 15min heating time. ANOVA showed that all the pre-processing variables and their interactions significantly affected the oil point pressure of at 1% level of significance. This was confirmed using Response Surface Methodology. Multiple regression analysis yielded equations that expressed oil point pressure as a function of kernel moisture content, heating temperature and heating time. The models yielded coefficients that enabled oil point pressure of the kernel to be predicted with high coefficient of determination