Abstract
Peanuts are harvested with various amounts and types of foreign materials that must be removed during post-harvest processing for consumer acceptance of peanut products. To assist in rock removal during harvest, a modification to the pneumatic conveyor system used to transport peanuts from underneath a standard Amadas combine to the holding bin was designed. The design utilizes air flow patterns and cavitations following an elbow in the duct system and consists of a properly sized and spaced opening in one component of the conveyor system. A stationary pneumatic conveyor system with a controllable peanut delivery apparatus was utilized in developing the duct modification. After preliminary testing during development, the efficiency of the duct modification rock removal was evaluated with three lots of peanuts averaging 0.45 t containing an average 371 rocks (3.2% of sample mass). Peanuts were conveyed through the duct system at an average flow rate of 3.9 t/hr. An average of 30 rocks comprising 42.5% of the total rock weight was extracted from the peanuts. The weight of rocks removed averaged 153.5 g and ranged from 18.7 to 320.7 g. Rocks not removed averaged 24.2 g and ranged from 1.7 to 202.8 g. Results from the tests indicate that the design of the duct modification appears to be effective in removing larger rocks from peanuts but not effective in removing smaller rocks.
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Keywords: screening, foreign material, separation, Cleaning, Arachis hypogaea L, loose shelled kernels, LSK
How to Cite:
Blankenship, P., (2003) “Rock Remover Design for an Amadas Combine¹”, Peanut Science 30(2), p.88-91. doi: https://doi.org/10.3146/pnut.30.2.0004