The Performance of a Jatropha Fruit Shelling Machine and the Future Improvement

Abstract

The Jatropha fruit shelling machine has been used to remove shells from fruits for the production of Jatropha seeds in biodiesel industry. It is commonly practised since the removal of shells can ensure higher crude oil yield during oil extraction process in biodiesel production. In the study, the performance of a Jatropha fruit shelling machine was evaluated. The machine basically consists of a cracking unit with compression rollers and a vibratory sifter used as the separation unit. The study revealed that the vibratory sifter has failed to completely separate the shells from seeds. Meanwhile, the separation efficiency of the machine was found to be 91.25 %. In fact, the cracking unit of the machine tended to produce shells and seeds in broken form. All the Jatropha fruits' particles produced have irregular size and shape, causing the separation through vibratory sifter to be difficult. Therefore, the study has suggested adding a blower to further improve the separation system in the future.