Introducing an Appropriate Mechanical Way for Coconut Dehusking

Abstract

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is a perennial tree crop, which has a percapita consumption of 120 nuts/ year/ head in Sri Lanka. Nut is the most important economical part in a coconut palm. Fruit has to be de-husked before any production process and there is no any mechanical mean, available in Sri Lanka other than manual coconut de-husking with an iron spike. This has become a major problem in coconut industry, as it is laborious, dangerous and expensive. This study was aimed to introduce an efficient and affordable mechanical method for coconut de-husking. Main components of the de-husking machine are; set of blades and blade spreading system, operating lever system and adjustable fruit holder. The most salient feature of this machine is detaching the husk into four pieces while retaining the soft eye covering part. Machine weighs 65 kg and the total cost of production was LKR 13,200. The performance of the de-husking machine was evaluated separately using a single operator (T₁) and an operator with a helper (T₂) and compared it with most practicing manual de-husking method (de-husking with iron spike). According to the analyzed results by one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), there is a significant difference (p<0.05) between T₂ and the manual method but no significant difference was observed between T₁ and the manual method. Actual capacities of T₁, T₂ and the manual method were 69, 135 and 78 nuts/ hr, respectively. Theoretical machine capacities of T₁, T₂ and manual method were 107, 164, 105 nuts/ hr, respectively. Efficiency of the machine with T₁, T₂ and the manual method were 64.5%, 82% and 74%, respectively. Therefore, the coconut de-husking machine could be effectively utilized using operator with a helper for a higher capacity and machine efficiency.