Design and Development of an Improved Palm Kernel Shelling Machine and Separator

Abstract

A palm kernel processing (Cracking and Separating) unit was developed to crack effectively various sizes/diameters of palm kernel as well as to separate the palm kernel from the shell with the aim of reducing the challenges encountered during the production of palm kernel Oil. This machine was fabricated and designed with locally available materials for the ease of maintenance and it was designed the the aims of easing the pain, stress involved, intensive labour, time consuming, unduly cost and cumbersome operation encountered in the traditional/existing process of manually cracking and separating palm kernel from the nut. After the fabrication of this machine, the machine was tested to ascertain its performance and efficiency. The efficiency of the machine was discovered to be 98% with a processing rate of 95 nuts per second. This is an improvement over existing ordinary palm kernel machine that has an efficiency of 90% with a processing rate of 87 nuts per second wiithout separation. A 5 hp Prime mover was selcted based on the power that was needed to effectively operate the machine. This project has catered for the various challenges encountered in the manual process of shelling palm kernel and separating the kernel from the shell.