EFFECT OF CYLINDER TYPE AND SPEED ON ACHA (DIGITARIA EXILIS) DEHULLING

This study was carried out to determine the effects of cylinder type and speed on acha dehulling. The performance of the dehulling unit for; rate of operation, percentage undehulled acha, dehulling efficiency, acha recovery efficiency and dehuller performance index against three different rasp bar cylinder types (open, closed and abrasive) using three different cylinder speeds of 1630 rpm (12.46 m/s), 2200 rpm (13.82 m/s) and 2800 rpm (14.66 m/s) were carried out. The cylinder-concave clearance of 10 mm was kept constant. The experimental design was a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) in a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement. The data obtained were analysed using ANOVA at a probability level of p ≤ 0.05 for the test of significance. The study showed that the abrasive cylinder type gave a better performance at the speed of 2800 rpm.