Design, construction and testing of a dehuller for African breadfruit (Treculia africana) seeds

Abstract

The African breadfruit seed is a popular food resource in several parts of West Africa. It is presently being dehulled manually in the absence of a suitable mechanical device. A machine was designed in order to remove the drudgery involved in dehulling the seeds. The machine comprised of a roller which cracks the hull, an oscillating cam follower which removes the cracked hull through repeated shearing against a stationary wall, and an aspiration unit which sifts the hull from the endosperm. A prototype was constructed and tested. Throughput was 64 kg/h; yield, 75%; completely dehulled seeds, 85%; breakage, 1% and sifting efficiency was practically 100%.