DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND EVALUATION OF A MOTOR-POWERED CASSAVA

(Manihot esculanta crantz) PEELER

______________

A Thesis
Proposed to the Faculty of the
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
BOHOL ISLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
ZAMORA, BILAR, BOHOL

_____________

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
In Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering

______________

Luzano, Reniel M.

09508832197

June 2020
 Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Rationale

Cassava (Manihot esculanta crantz), belonging to the botanical family

Euphorbiaceous originated from the Latin America from where it has spread to other

regions of the world such as the tropical parts of Africa, West India, Brazil, Malaysia,

Indonesia, Thailand, China and Philippines. Its high yield in poor soil and the ability to

stay in the soil for long periods after maturity makes cassava an important food security

crop in low-income countries (Oluwole & Adio, 2013).

Majority of the population of Africa, Latin America and Asia depends for the

sustenance as it provides food as well as livelihood for the farmers and traders. A major

part of cassava is consumed directly and the rest is processed as starch, flour, pellets,

chips, etc. Processed cassava has various industrial applications such as food, ethanol,

paper and cardboard, textile, pharmaceutical, glues and adhesives. The global cassava

production reached a volume of around 253.4 million tons in 2018 (Dublin, 2019). While

in the Philippines around 768.30 thousand metric tons was produced. ARMM, the

biggest producer of cassava with 458.76 thousand metric tons, contributed 59.7% to the

national cassava production. Northern Mindanao and Cagayan Valley followed with

14.2% and 7.1% shares respectively. ARMM, the biggest producer likewise, had the

biggest area harvested at 97.27 thousand hectares representing 43.6% to total area

cassava area. This was followed by Northern Mindanao, Bicol Region Eastern Visayas
and Cagayan Valley with 12.5%, 10.0%, 7.1% and 6.4% shares respectively (PSA,

2018).

Cassava roots are highly perishable once the roots are harvested, they begin to

deteriorate within about 48 hours but they can be stored for longer periods if it is not

detached from the plant (Lincoln & John, 2005). One way of post-harvest preservation is

by processing into a number of dry food and exportable products which can be stored

longer. This minimizes qualitative and quantitative losses, ensures steady production

and availability of products derived from cassava. One of the greatest advantages of

cassava has over other tropical starchy root crops is that the roots can be put to many

uses from delicious delicacies, animal feeds, food industry in the form of flour, paste etc.

(Jackson B. A., et al, 2013).

Although cassava has relatively few problems during the production stage, its

problems seems to multiply the post-harvest stage. Storage of fresh cassava tubers,

mechanization of harvesting and mechanized processing are still lacking in

development. The processing of cassava tubers for industrial and human consumption

involves different operations peeling being the major one. The efficiency of peeling

affects the quality of the resulting product. In some cases especially when the cassava

is being used for animal feeding, peeling may be unnecessary. Cassava peeling has

been practiced as far back as when cassava was first discovered, but the instrument for

peeling has evolved from stone and wood into simple household knives. This makes the

peeling of a large quantity of cassava a hassle and long process. The drudgery of

peeling can be minimized or eliminated with the proper use of mechanized technique to
efficiently remove the skin to the cassava roots (Igbeka, 1995 as cited by Oluwole &

Adio, 2013).

LITIRATURE BACKGROUND

Legal Basis

Republic Act 8435 also known as the “Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization

Act (AFMA) of 1997”, is an act prescribing urgent related measures to modernize

agriculture and fisheries sector of the country by transforming this sectors from a

resource-based to a technology-based industry in order to enhance their profitability and

prepare the said sector for the challenges of globalization through an adequate focused

and rational delivery of necessary support services approaching funds therefore and for

other purposes, and to improve the quality of life of all sectors.

This study was further supported by the Republic Act 10601 also known as the

“Agricultural and Fisheries Mechanization (AFMech) Law”. This act promotes

agricultural and fisheries mechanization development of the country. Specifically, this

act promotes the development and adoption of modern, appropriate and cost effective

and environmentally-safe agricultural and fisheries machinery and equipment to

enhance farm productivity and efficiency in order to achieve food security and safety

and increase famer’s income; provide a conductive environment to the local assembling

and manufacturing of engines, machinery and equipment for agricultural and fisheries

production, processing and marketing; ensure the quality and safety of machineries and

equipment locally manufactured or imported by strengthening regulations through the

development and enforcement of machinery and machine performance standards,

regular testing and evaluation, registration, and the accreditation and classification of

suppliers, assemblers and manufacturers to ensure the compliance to prescribed quality

standards.

Related Literature

Cassava tuber is white or cream or light yellow in color and generally is

surrounded by 2 layers of skin: the outermost cambium layer - Periderm, and the soft

Cortex layer beneath the Periderm. For food using, the Periderm and Cortex layer must

be peeled out completely. Since the skin of cassava is tougher and thicker compare to

other kind of roots (like potatoes, carrots...), the techniques for peeling cassava also

need to be suitable. There are a number of methods in peeling cassava has been

developed around the world. Mechanical, Chemical or Thermal methods are currently in

use by devices, caustic solutions and heat respectively. Every method has different

advantages and limitations on the basic of technique used. Although mechanical

method has high losses and low flexibility, it is still preferred among current methods

because it maintains freshness of edible portions of product and does not damage

tissue (Emadi, et. al., 2005).

However, due to the varying in shape and sizes, the thickness of skin and

uneven surfaces of the cassava root, mechanical abrasive technique is considered as

the best solution and commonly used by medium to large processors and is highly

advanced. Most of the machines in the market or has been developed usually found in

the shape of cylinder or rollers with the inner wall of cylinder or outer layer of rollers is
covered by abrasive brushes. The contact between roots and coated layers

accompanied by movement of one of them, lead to peeling action (Emadi, et. al., 2005).

A number of low-cost peeling machines have been developed include the

following: a continuous process cassava peeler developed by (Odigboh, 1976). It

consists of a cylindrical knife assembly and a solid cylinder, mounted parallel and 20 cm

apart on an inclined frame. The machine was reported to have very high efficiencies,

over 95%, when handling lots of even sized cassava tuber pieces, but had lower

efficiencies, about 75%,when peeling mixed sizes of cassava tubers. Another peeler, a

batch process cassava peeling machine was developed by (Odigboh, 1979) and later

modified (Odigboh, 1981).In this modification a cylindrical drum with abrasive inner

surfaces was eccentrically mounted on a shaft and the eccentric movement of the

cylinder causes the tuber to rotate and tumble thus peeling the tubers (An Ni Le, 2012).

Related Studies

(An Ni Le, 2012) designed, fabricated and conducted performance evaluation of

a pedal powered cassava peeler using wire brushes as an abrasive peeler attached

inwardly to wooden planks formed into a drum. The drum is then attached to a bearing

at each end to allow it to rotate freely. The drum is then rotated through a pedal. In her

study the speed at which the drum rotates depends on the speed at which the operator

pedals which makes the peeling inconsistent but requires little effort. The peeling

efficiency of the pedal powered peeler has a capacity to peel 60-100 kg per hour;

average percent flesh loss of 5% and a peeling efficiency of 95%

 THE PROBLEM

Statement of the Problem

The study was conducted to fabricate and to evaluate the motor powered

cassava peeler.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What was the performance of the peeler in terms of its:

1.1 Peeling Capacity (Kg/Hr.)

1.2 Input capacity (Kg/batch)

1.3 Peeling efficiency, and

1.4 Percentage flesh loss?

2. Is there a significant difference on the performance of the cassava peeler in

terms of its peeling efficiency, capacity and percentage flesh loss?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The traditional way of peeling cassava was a time consuming process and uses

a sharp blade to slice the tuber which involved human risk. The cassava peeler would

have a capacity to reduce the time consumed in peeling cassava and reduces the

human risk. Aside from this, it would also help small scale cassava processors to

engage more in cassava processing in order to increase their productivity and profit.

This study is believed to be beneficial to the following:

 Agricultural Engineering Students. The outcomes of this study would be the

basis on different researches and studies in the future related to the main objective of

this study. This would provide them with the basic principle of the motor-powered

cassava peeler and for them to improve it.

Agricultural Engineers. The output of this study would serve as a reference for

professional and practicing Agricultural Engineers for improvements and for them to

explore and develop other green technologies for the development of the community.

Local Processors. To the local processors of cassava, the motor-powered

cassava peeler would be a key factor in increasing their processed cassava production.

Reducing the long time necessary to peel large quantities of cassava and increase their

productivity.

Government. This would help the government in their campaign to modernize

and mechanize cassava production and processing in the country.

Social Impact. This study would be a help to the community especially to the

local cassava processors who are engaged in cassava processing as a basis and

guidelines as to what tools and machineries they can use in peeling cassava tubers and

to reduce the operation time involved in peeling cassava tubers.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

Scope

This study will focus on the design, fabrication and performance evaluation of the

machine in terms of its peeling capacity, input capacity, peeling efficiency and its

percentage flesh loss.

Limitation

The constraints that will limit the researcher in conducting the study will ber the

limited resources of the researcher especially on the financial aspect, and the lack of

references on the topic. However, the researcher will resolve the problem by asking for

financial assistance from relatives and friends and skimming the library and surfing the

internet for available references respectively.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Design

The research focused on the post-harvest process of the cassava tubers

especially on the peeling process. In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives,

the researcher will fabricate and evaluate the motor-powered cassava peeler.

Complete Randomized Design will be used in the experiment with two (2) factors

namely rotation speed and input volume. To determine if there is any significant
difference among treatment, analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be used based on the

peeling speed, peeling efficiency, input capacity and percentage flesh loss.

Research Environment

The motor-powered cassava peeler will be constructed in the municipality of

Carmen, Bohol. The technical performance of the machine will be evaluated at the

Department of Entrepreneurship and Agricultural and Bio-Systems Engineering working

area. Sample will be collected in the cassava production of the municipality of Carmen,

Bohol.

Materials and Equipment

The materials that will be used in the construction of the motor-powered cassava

peeler are the following: angle iron, stainless pipe, pulley, pillow bearing, ball bearing,

stainless elbow, stainless plate, stainless steel shaft, mid steel plate, stainless rod

worm, wood, nylon/steel wire, bolts and nuts, stainless welding rods, ordinary welding

rods and blind rivets.

The equipment that will be used during fabrication are the following: welding

machine, grinder, hand drill, bending machine, riveter, hack saw and other shop tools.

PROCEDURE

Design Consideration

The design criteria that will be used in the fabrication of the motor-powered

cassava peeler are the following: a.) ease of fabrication, b.) can be dismantled easily,
c.) ease of transportation, d.) use of locally-available materials, and e.) easy and safe to

operate. Thus simplicity will be considered in the designing procedure.

Description of the Motor-powered cassava peeler

The design of the machine will follow (An Ni Le, 2012) concept. The machine will

consist of a wooden drum with wire brushes attached inwardly to the grooved part of the

wood. The drum will be supported by a pillow bearing screwed with an angle iron frame

which will permit the set of wire brushes in the rolling drum to rub against the cassava

tubers that will be powered by an electric motor.

Wood

The brush holders will be made of either gmelina or molave wood and this will

make up the drum of the machine in which the wire brushes will be attached. The wires

will be attached to the wood by inserting the wires in a set of two (2) drilled holes and

clipping the wire to secure.

Wire Brush

The major part that will perform the peeling inside the drum, made of tiny

steel/nylon in strands attached to the wood.

Drum

The wooden wires brushes will be attach into one another to form a cylindrical

drum. There will be a gap of at least a few centimetres in order for the peeled skin to

drop during the rotation. There will also be a door for loading the cassava tubers.
Shaft

A shaft will be used to serve as a medium through which the drum is rotated

inside a fixed bearing. The bearing will help to hold the shaft firmly and give it a smooth

rotation for efficient and fast peeling action.

Pulley

The component that transmits speed from the electric motor to the machine using

belt and to serves as the speed variation mechanism. Various pulley sizes will be used

for different speed variations of the rolling drum.

Machine Frame

An angle iron will be cut and welded together to form the support for the

machine. It will be subjected to compressive forces, torque and vibration from the

peeling drum.

The proposed design is shown below

Fabrication of the Motor-Powered Cassava Peeler

The motor-powered cassava peeler will be designed first by working on drawings

and planning the fabrication. The wires will also be selected based on hand brushing

cassava tubers to see and evaluate which type of wire will be used. The machine frame

will be constructed first based on the design and specification of materials. The wire

strands will be attached to the wood to form the wire brush. The wire brush will be

formed into a drum with the wires inside of the drum. The drum will be attached to the
machine frame together with the pulleys and bearings. A preliminary test will be

conducted prior to the performance of the peeler in order to improve and modify none

functional or hazardous parts.

Operation of the Motor-Powered Cassava Peeler

During the operation of the machine, the operator must have to ensure that any

moving, rotating and even stationary parts are tightly secured to ensure safety during

operation. All guards and covers must be installed properly. All bolts must be tighten

and secured. During loading of the cassava tubers, the machine must be turned off to

prevent any accidents. After the cassava tubers are loaded the door must be closed and

secured before turning on the machine.

Sample Preparation

The samples that will be used in the performance evaluation of the motor-

powered cassava peeler will be obtained from the cassava producers form the

municipality of Carmen, Bohol. The samples will be soaked in water for about 5-10

hours to soften the skin of the tubers. A mass of m (Kg) of cassava tubers will be used

per replication and three (3) replications per treatment will be used.

Treatment

The technical performance of the machine will be evaluated using two factorial

experiment in Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with the drum rotation speed and

the input volume as the factors.

 The design will be used with two (2) treatments. Treatment one (T1) is the

combination of V1 and m1 and treatment 2 is the combination of V1 and m2.

Where:

V1 = rotation speed 1, rpm

V2 = rotation speed 2, rpm

m1 = input weight 1, kgs

m2 = input weight 2, kgs

The evaluation will be replicated three (3) times. Data required for the evaluation

of the technical performance will be determined.

Data Gathering

The following data will be collected in the process of evaluating the technical

performance of the motor-powered cassava peeler:

1. Percentage flesh loss. The percentage of the flesh lost during the peeling

process.

2. Time of operation. During the peeling process, the time consumed in every

replication will be timed using a stopwatch and will be recorded.

Data Calculations

1. Peeling Capacity. Peeling capacity will be determined using the data of the

weight of the loaded cassava and the total time of operation, the peeling

capacity of the machine will be determined using the following equation:

𝑚𝑖
𝑃𝐶 =
𝑇𝑜

Where:

Pc = Peeling capacity

mi = weight of the loaded cassava

To = total time of operation

2. Percentage Flesh Loss. In order to calculate the flesh loss of a particular type

of cassava used, a preliminary test will be conducted to first check for the

percentage of peel of the tuber used. The peel constitute (pc) will be the

percentage of the peeled skin out of a tuber with no flesh loss. The total

weight of the peeled skin using the machine will also be used. The

percentage flesh loss will be determined with the following equations

Alhassan (2018) :
𝑤𝑝
𝑝𝑐 = ( ) ∗ 100
𝑤𝑐

Where:

Pc = Peel constitute, %

wp = Weight of the peeled cassava with no flesh loss, kg

wc = Weight of the unpeeled cassava, kg

𝑝𝑐(𝑚𝑝 − 𝑤𝑙)
𝐹𝑙 = ∗ 100
𝑚𝑝
 Where:

Fl = Percentage flesh loss

mp = weight of the peeled cassava

wl = Weight of lump or peeled skin during the peeling process

3. Peeling Efficiency. Peeling efficiency will be determined using the data of the

weight of the loaded cassava and weight of the peeled cassava, the peeling

efficiency of the machine will be determined using the following equation:

𝑚𝑖
𝑃𝐸 = ∗ 100
𝑚𝑝

Where:

Pe = Peeling Efficiency

mi = Weight of the loaded cassava

mp = Weight of the peeled cassava

Data Analysis

The data will be gathered will be analysed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

in Complete Randomized Design (CRD).

 Motor-Powered Cassava Peeler

Treatment A Treatment B

R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3

Experimental set-up of the study

Legend:

A = (V1 and m1)

B = (V2 and m2)

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Tuber. It is a much thickened underground part of a stem or rhizome.

Peeling. It is the process of removing the outer covering or the skin from a fruit

or a vegetable

Peeler. It is a device or tool for removing the skin from fruit and vegetable
 Capacity. It is refers to the quantity of material per unit time.

Mechanization. It is the introduction of machines or automatic devices into a

process, activity or place.

Abrasive. It is the capability of a substance or material to polish or clean a hard

surface by rubbing or grinding.

Local Processors. Refers to the individuals engaged in the processing of

cassava products locally.

Lump. It is a compact mass of a substance, especially one without a definite or

regular shape.

Evaluation. It is the process of observing and measuring a thing for the purpose

of judging it and of determining its value either by comparison to similar things or to a

standard.

Fabrication. It is an industrial term that refers to the manipulation of raw

materials (such as steel) for the making machines and structures.

Technical Performance. A termed used by the performance of the machine in

terms of milking capacity, input capacity, milk yield, and grating capacity.

REFERENCES

Abdulkadir, B. H. (2012): Design and Fabrication of a Cassava Peeling Machine, IOSR

Journal of Engineering IOSRJEN.

https://www.iosrjen.org/Papers/vol2_issue6%20(part-3)/A0260108.pdf
Adetan D. A., Adekoya L.O. and Aluko O.B. (2006) Theory of a mechanical method of

peeling cassava tubers with knives

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26551706_Theory_of_a_mechanical_m

ethod_of_peeling_cassava_tubers_with_knives/download

Alhassan, E. A., Ijabo, O. J., Afolabi, E. O. (2018) DEVELOPMENT OF CASSAVA

PEELING MACHINE USING AN ABRASIVE MECHANISM. Journal of

Production Engineering

Emadi B., Kosse V. and Yarlagadda (2005). Experimental investigation of abrasive

peeling of pumpkin

Global Cassava Processing Market Report 2019: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth,

Opportunity and Forecasts 2011-2018 & 2019-2024

https://www.globenewswire.com/news

release/2019/02/21/1739470/0/en/Global-Cassava-Processing-Market-

Report-2019-Industry-Trends-Share-Size-Growth-Opportunity-and-

Forecasts-2011-2018-2019-2024.html

Lincoln, M. M. and John, L. M. (2005). Cassava: Manihot esculenta Crantz,

USDA NRCS National Plant Data Centre, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250147199_Optimisation_of_Cassava_

Pellet_Processing_Method

Major Vegetables and Root Crops Quarterly Bulletin, October-December 2018

https://psa.gov.ph/vegetable-root-crops-main/cassava
Olukunle O. J., Akinnuli B. O. (2013): Theory of an Automated Cassava Peeling

System. International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT)

http://www.ijeit.com/vol%202/Issue%208/IJEIT1412201302_36.pdf

Oluwole, O. O., Adio, M. A. (2013) Design and Construction of a Batch Cassava Peeling

Machine, Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Automation

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256521526_Design_and_Construction_

of_a_Batch_Cassava_Peeling_Machine
Proposed Design of the Motor-Powered Cassava Peeler