Vol. 7, Special Issue 6 (2019)
Field performance of popping machine for Makhana seeds
Author(s): Jitendra Kumar, Satish Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Sanoj Kumar
Abstract: North Bihar is a major producer of makhana (Euryale ferox), the main indigenous aquatic cash crop of Mithila region of Bihar (India). A prototype Makhana popping machine was developed to address the basic constraints and drudgery involved in Makhana processing, increase the processing capacity, minimize processing time, remove the drudgery of the operations involved as well as to improve the quality of popped makhana. The machine could have two units: a preheater-cum-roaster unit and an Impacter unit for popping. The popped makhana and the shell were collected from the discharge outlet of the makhana popping machine and separated. The yield of makhana, popping efficiency and recovery of grade I makhana were determined. The effect of impeller speed on grade-I makhana was negligible. The performance of the newly developed makhana popping machine was found satisfactory at 10 kg/h feed rate and impeller speed of 2600 rpm. A profit of Rs.9.25 per kg is obtained by using this machine. The currently available technology of Makhana processing is not only indigenous and manual but also cumbersome and painstaking. The process involves handling of hot roasted seeds which require two to three labourers to process 8-9 kg of popped Makhana per day. With the view to mechanize the unit operation involved in Makhana processing, grading and roasting machine were designed and developed. Grader was developed based on engineering properties of Makhana while the roaster was designed based on preliminary experiments for Makhana, i.e. shell breaking force at different temperatures and for varying residence time. The developed roasting machine worked satisfactorily with 80-85% popping efficiency at machine capacity around 10 kg/h.
Pages: 773-777 | 580 Views 199 Downloads
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How to cite this article:
Jitendra Kumar, Satish Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Sanoj Kumar. Field performance of popping machine for Makhana seeds. International Journal of Chemical Studies. 2019; 7(6): 773-777.
