ABSTRACT
Palm kernel production potentials of several countries are far from been fully exploited. At present, many countries are operating below expected capacity. The motive of the project work is based on fabrication and modification of a palm kernel cracker and separator, so as to help farmers improve the efficiency of output based on time, reduce stress and injuries they incur in the process of cracking palm kernel and separating the kernel seed from the shells manually. The major principles of operation of the machine are; rotation, impact and translator motion. The cracking chamber works with the principles of rotation and impact, rotation of the fan and impact against the cracking chamber wall, the rotating fan throws the palm kernel against the cracking chamber wall, thereby causing it to crack open. The cracked kernel gets into the separating unit, in which the cracked shell drop to the ground due to the to and fro motion of the separating mesh, thereby separating the shell from the seed. The major source of power is through a 3Hp electric motor. The major design considerations are the physical and mechanical properties of palm kernel like the size of the palm kernel (ranges from 6 mm – 26 mm), angle of repose of the kernel seed and kernel shell (which are found to be 14.7° and 26.6°respectively) and the force require to crack the palm kernel (30 N). The performance of the machine was evaluated in terms of efficiency of the cracker and separator which were found to be 96% and 80.03% respectively. These were evaluated base on the number of cracked palm kernels, recovered kernel seeds and level of shell separation results. The result shows that the separation technique is viable for effective separation of the dry palm kernel and shell mixture. Thus, the performance of palm kernel cracker and separator machine is largely dependent on the physical state of the palm kernel such as size of the kernel. Effective separation of palm kernel from shell is an important downstream industrial utilization of the constituents.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Declaration ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgment v
Table of Contents vi
List of Plates viii
List of Figures ix
Abstract x
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS 2
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT 3
1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY 3
1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT 4
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 CONCEPT OF PALM KERNEL 6
2.2 PALM NUT PROCESSING 10
2.3 PALM KERNEL NUT SEPARATION 12
2.3.1 Air medium 12
2.3.2. Liquid medium 13
2.3.3. Screening Process 14
2.3.4 Rotary Drum Separator 16
2.3.5 Separation by Angular Projection 16
2.3.6 Frictional Process 18
CHAPTER THREE
MATERIALS AND METHOD
3.1 Consideration of Physical Characteristics of Shell and Kernel 19
3.2 Description of the Machine and Material Selection 19
3.3 Modifications of the Machine 20
3.4 Components of the Machine 21
3.5 Operating Principles of the Machine 27
3.6 Maintenance Procedure 28
3.7 Cracking Power of the Blade 31
3.8 Power of Separating Mesh 31
3.10 Impact Force/Speed of Cracking Unit 33
3.11 Speed of the Separator 34
3.12 Torque Acting on Shaft 34
3.13 Painting of the Machine 35
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
4.1 Performance Evaluation 37
4.2 Discussion of results 40
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Conclusions 41
5.2 Recommendations 42
REFERENCES 43
LIST OF PLATES
Plate 1: Snapshot of Cracked Palm Kernel Shell and Fruits (Sample A) 39
Plate 2: Snapshot of Cracked Palm Kernel Shell and Fruits (Sample B) 39
Plate 3: Snapshot of Cracked Palm Kernel Shell and Fruits (Sample C) 39
LIST OF FIGURES
Fig 1: Indented cylinder separator 15
Fig 2: Projected Angle Cracker separator 17
Fig 3: Full machine (cracker and separator) 21
Fig 4. Bearing 23
Fig 5: Pulley 24
Fig 6: Speed Reducer 24
Fig 7: Roller 25
Fig 8: Prime Mover 27
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The fruit of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is well known for its economic importance and nutritive values. Palm kernel oil is major viable oil in Nigeria and it is obtained from kernel of the palm tree after cracking the palm kernel nut. The kernels are not useful until the kernels are separated from the shells but the usual way of cracking palm nut to get the kernel is a time consuming and labour intensive process (Stock, 1962). A safer and more efficient method of cracking palm kernel and increasing the efficiency of separating kernels from shell is desired. Therefore, cracking and the separation process are two major operations that need development for drastic improvement in quality and quantity of palm kernel oil produced in Nigeria. Kernel contains 46 to 54% oil with a free fatty acid, (FFA) of about 4% and this oil is more stable than palm oil (Derek and Wiberley, 1997). The bye-product after extraction of palm kernel oil can also be used as a valuable substitute for cocoa butter as well as palm kernel cake, animal feeds, soap, candle and varieties of industrial use.
Palm kernel industry had remained very popular in third world because of the dependency of many companies on palm kernel oil as raw materials, which is quite inadequate (Hartley, 1987). Nigeria is one of the largest exporters of palm kernel product in early sixties, providing about 400,000 metric tons amounting to 65% of the world trade. Nigeria palm kernel nut export reduced drastically within seventies from 65 to 15% when there was an oil boom (Ndegwe, 1987). Based on high dependent of many companies like vegetable oil and body cream industries on what is within and outside the country, an efficient palm kernel processing machine is therefore necessary to revitalize the production of palm kernel in other to meet up with ever increasing industrial demand.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS
The problems faced by local farmers or small scale industries on Palm nuts cannot be over emphasized. They are always faced with challenges of how to crack and separate the kernel from the shell which has always been done manually by using a heavy object to crack or break the shell, after which they proceed to the separation of the palm kernels from the shell which is also done manually, either by picking the nuts from the shell by hands or the cracked kernels will be mixed with clay and then soaked with water and the separation will be done based on density where shells tends to sink down and the nuts flauts. However, this method of separation adds more stress to the farmers because as the kernel are souked with water, it increases the moisture content of the palm kernel which requires the farmers to reduce the moisture content by drying the nuts. Sometimes, the nuts tends to loose it's oil contents because most of the farmers do not regulate the method of drying the nuts while trying to reduce the moisture content after separation.
This traditional or manual method of cracking and separating the nuts from the shell also incurs lose to the farmers because sometimes the moisture content contained in the nuts are not dried probably and because of that it attracts backerials which decays or eat up the palm kernels which brings loses to the farmers. Also the traditional or manual method of cracking the shell contribute loses to the farmers as well because the method has no uniform pattern of cracking and some of the palm kernels brakes in the process which makes it to loose it's oil contents and weight which also has an effect in the market value.
Therefore, the need arises to redesign and modify a palm kernel cracker and separator machine that is less expensive and easily afford by local farmers which can be used to carry out an efficient and more reliable cracking and separating the nuts from the shell without consuming much time, energy and resources.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
The aim of this project is to modify a palm kernel cracker and separator for higher efficiency.
The specific objectives are
i. To develop and integrate a cracking unit with existing improved separator.
ii. To evaluate and compare the performance of the improved machine with previous one.
iii. To study influence of palm kernel size on the performance of the machine.
1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY
The scope of the work involves the design and fabrication of an integrated cracker and separating machine from locally available but affordable materials. Performance evaluation and comparative analysis were also carried out to ascertain the efficiency of the system.
1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT
In the past and up to the present, many people are still used to the crude method of cracking and separating of palm kernel and shells. This method is so primitive that often results in serious injuries sustained by people in the palm oil processing industries. It also consumes a lot of human energy and time with low production output even when required in large quantities. Hence, the process can be as tasking as is boring.
There is need to increase the quantity of palm kernel nuts cracked and palm kernel separated per unit time to meet the overwhelming demand. In effect, the development of cracking and separating device will therefore not only negate the ineffectiveness and fatigue of the manual method but also produce a safe product, increased separation efficiency and mitigate against dangers associated with the use of manual method of cracking and separating.
In view of the high utility of kernel and its products, the demand for it in most Nigeria markets is increasing daily. Palm kernel from the cracked palm nuts are crushed in the palm kernel mill to get the palm kernel oil that is used for soap making, oil paint, polish and medicine. The kernel cake serve as ingredient for livestock feed and it is used in livestock industries while the fibres are used in boiler as fuel (Adebayo, 2004, Emeka and Olomu, 2007). Thus, its importance cannot be under emphasized.
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