Development of a Millet Destoner for Small Scale Farmers

Autor: Saleh Aminu
Rok vydání: 2021
Zdroj: FUOYE Journal of Engineering and Technology. 6
ISSN: 2579-0625
2579-0617
DOI: 10.46792/fuoyejet.v6i4.613
Popis: Post-harvest processes of millet rely on labour-intensive manual operations in Nigeria while its produce is associated with contaminants. A manually-operated destoner was developed to increase grain value for commercial production and reduce drudgery. To construct the destoner sieves, physical properties of one thousand randomly selected grains were determined digital Vernier callipers. Millet grains to be destoned was fed through the upper portion of the destoner being operated through the crank handle while the pure grains were collected at the discharge outlet. Results obtained shows the geometric diameter of the grains increase progressively from 3.51-4.22mm as moisture content increases. A screen aperture of 3.5mm was constructed. Grains’ surface area, volume and sphericity increased from 22.67-34.82mm², 8.19-13.98mm³ and 0.691-0.776g respectively. Mass, true density and terminal velocity of 1000 seed increased from 13.56-43.84g, 1548.91-1689.87kg/m³ and 2.69-4.58m/s respectively. The bulk density of millet also increased as moisture content increases but decreased beyond 12.5% moisture level indicating that millet floats on water and was transpoted with the aid of an auger. About 50kg of millet was poured into the destoner to occupy its ⅓ capacity while the remaining ⅔ was filled with water. Destoner output was at 95% efficiency.Key words: Destoner, Millet, Processing, Properties, Contaminants
Databáze: OpenAIRE