Performance of equipment for in-field shelling of peanut for biodiesel production.

摘要

A study was conducted in the USA in 2007 and 2008 to explore the possibility of shelling groundnuts during harvest to reduce the overall cost of growing and processing groundnuts for on-farm biodiesel production. A conventional two-row groundnut combine normally used to thresh windrowed groundnuts was modified to shell the groundnuts as they were harvested. Groundnuts were dug, windrowed, and allowed to partially dry in the windrow. They were then harvested using either the modified groundnut combine or a conventional grain combine. As a control treatment, groundnuts were harvested using the modified groundnut combine with the shelling grates removed from the sheller. The modified groundnut combine successfully captured 91% of the groundnut kernels threshed by the control and shelled 99% of the kernels harvested. The grain combine captured only 62% of the groundnut kernels compared to the control. The grain combine shelled 93% of the groundnut harvested. Groundnuts harvested with the grain combine had 30% foreign material, compared to 11% foreign material harvested with the modified groundnut combine or the control. Allowing the groundnuts to dry in the windrow and shelling with the modified groundnut combine reduced the estimated postharvest oil production costs by as much as 36%, from $611 to $391 per 1000 litres of oil.