Development Of A Rotary Pulverizer For Cassava Cake In Gari Production

摘要

The use of a raffia sieve for pulverizing and sifting cassava cake during gari processing is slow, unhygienic and hazardous. A rotary brush and screen mechanism was developed for the pulverization of cassava cake with a view to eliminate the above-mentioned limitations of the existing methods. Machine performance was measured by comparing the product from the raffia sieve with that from a rotary sifter. The 5-mm screen aperture gave a gari of about the same bulk density with that of the raffia sieve. Although the throughput of the rotary sifter using a 5-mm sieve (227.71 kg/h) was lower than that of a 7-mm sieve (350 kg/h), the uniformity coefficient of 1.72 using the 5-mm sieve compared favorably with that of the raffia sieve. The pulverizing efficiency was higher (81.2%), with the 5-mm sieve than with the 7-mm sieve. The higher pulverizing efficiency of the machine reduces the drudgery associated with the pulverization of pressed cassava cake and improves productivity.