Thesis Abstract

                ABSTRACT

Cassava is produced in a large quantity in Nigeria. One of the products emerging from its processing has turned out to be a major staple food in the nation, which is ‘garri’. Due to insufficient and inadequate processing equipment; cassava has been susceptible to wastage and ‘garri’ production has been reduced in scale, thereby resulting in insufficiency and high cost of ’garri’ in the market. In order to ease the production process, a compact mechanized cassava mash/‘garri’ sifter was designed and constructed with a speed of 290rpm and power requirement of 1hp to tackle some of the major problems encountered in ‘garri, production. The machine does not only granulate and sift cassava mash into fine grits for easy frying; it also sieves dry ‘garri’ into fine, even and edible particles; it is also capable of re-granulating dry coarse grain of ‘garri’ back into the regular sizes; of which the earlier machines made could not combine these three operations. The machine has an average capacity of 10.52kg/hr. for combined grating and sieving operations and 22.5kg/hr. for ordinary sieving operation. The efficiency of the machine for grating and sieving operations lies between 84 and 87% while the weight loss efficiency is between 86 and 99% for all operations. The machine is useful for small, medium and large scale industries; the initial and operating cost is affordable for both domestic and commercial ‘garri’ producers. The machine can be run with either an electric motor or a mechanical prime mover, particularly in the rural areas where there is no electricity supply. The machine can be easily operated by all genders; however children and infants should be restricted from using the machine. The capacity of the machine can also be increased with an increase in size of the machine.

Thesis Overview