Jatropha (curcas species) is a major
source of bio-fuel, one of the prominent obstacles
in its processing is the decorticating of the seed.
An identified decorticator was modified and the
evaluation was carried out on Jatropha seed using
four speeds (650, 800, 950 and 1100 rpm); three
masses (200, 400 and 600g) with two replications.
The mean decorticating efficiency ranged from
23.5 to 79 % and the overall average mean
decorticating efficiency was 56.54 %. The
mechanical seed damage ranges from 13 to 51 %
with average mean of 27.51 %. The cleaning
efficiency was 14.89 to 53.7 %, while the seed loss
ranged from 3.5 to 13 % for the four speeds. The
maximum obtained decorticating efficiency for the
machine was 79 %. Generally, the machine
decorticating efficiency, cleaning efficiency,
percentage of seed damage increased and
percentage of seed loss decreased with increase
in drum speed and throughput.
Keywords— Jatropha seed; decortications;
machine speed ; machine efficiency
