Journal of Agricultural Machinery
with the collaboration of Iranian Society of Mechanical Engineers (ISME)

Effects of Softening Time and Beater Speed on the Stripping and Cleaning Performance of an Oil Palm Fruit Processing Machine

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article- En

Authors

C. S. A. Boko
G. M. Assogba
G. C. Bagan

Laboratory of the School of Rural Engineering (LEGR), The National University of Agriculture (UNA), Benin

https://doi.org/10.22067/jam.2026.100416.1518
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to provide a practical solution to improve the performance of local strippers by enhancing their capacity and efficiency while remaining affordable for local operators. This approach addresses current limitations and meets the growing demands of the palm oil production sector. The technological gap observed in palm fruit processing is primarily due to the lack of dedicated machines for specific operations, particularly the stripping process, which still relies on manual methods. This highlights the need for machine development to improve efficiency and reduce time, space, and labour intensity. The evaluation of this machine was conducted based on three different softening times of fresh fruit bunches (24, 48, and 72 hours) and three beater (rotor) shaft speeds (144.5, 240.2, and 424.4 rpm), measured directly with a tachometer. Results showed that stripping efficiency, cleaning rate, and production capacity increased with softening time and rotor speed, achieving values ranging from 66.69% to 98.30% for stripping efficiency, 36.06% to 93.87% for cleaning efficiency, and 430.901 to 1,800.511 kg h-1 for hourly capacity. Among the tested conditions, the best stripping and cleaning performance was obtained after a softening time of 72 hours at a rotor speed of 424.4 rpm.

Keywords

Cleaning efficiency
Mechanisation
Palm fruit bunches
Stripping efficiency
Thresher
Subjects

Authors retain the copyright. This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)

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Journal of Agricultural Machinery

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 01 November 2026

  • Receive Date 17 August 2026
  • Revise Date 12 September 2026
  • Accept Date 04 October 2026
  • First Publish Date 01 November 2026

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