Journal of Engineering Research and Reports

Several studies have been carried out to investigate the performance of developed groundnut dehullers, but very few studies have considered the influence of groundnut varietal differences on the dehuller performance. Therefore, the objectives of the study is to; (1) determine the influence of dehulling speed and varietal difference on the evaluation parameters of the developed machine; and (2) determine the main and interactive effects between the dehulling speed and groundnut variety on the developed machine evaluation parameters. Well designed and fabricated groundnut seed dehulling machine consists of the following components: hopper, dehulling unit, discharge unit, machine frame and drive system. The hopper houses the shaft and rotating circular plate covered with rug (which act as an adhesive) that rub roasted groundnut seeds at any orientation against a stationary circular plate, and discharges to the sprout unit. Results showed that for the dehuller, the red Valencia, white-runner type and Kampala gave dehulling efficiencies of 74.26-88.22, 79.69-91.3, and 77.21-89.77%, respectively. Result of the analysis showed that only speed is the variable significantly (P < 0.05) impacting the dehulling efficiency in their main effect, while the variety has no effect on dehulling efficiency (insignificant-P > 0.05). However, the interaction effect between the rotating speed and variety caused significant (P < 0.05) effect on the dehulling efficiency. Therefore, in order to further reduce drudgery through the development of machine for dehulling groundnut, the dehulling speed together with the variety of the groundnut seed must be prioritized.