Design and Development of EGUSI (Citrulus Vulgaris) Washing Machine

Egusi is an important oil seed crop that serves numerous food purposes. Washing of this crop is vital, prior to its vast applications. The physical properties of the egusi was carried out before designing and constructing egusi washing machine. The sizes of the egusi are not uniform. To address the challenges associated with washing egusi, a design for washing egusi on a small scale was presented and evaluated. Parameters evaluated include washing efficiency, percentage loss, damaged egusi and machine capacity. The machine was constructed using locally available materials and consists of a cylindrical drum, frame, perforated drum, water tank and roller. Washing operation was carried out using 65.58 kg of fermented egusi and divided into four before washing. The average weight of each of the four runs of fermented egusi, washed egusi and escaped egusi were 16.40 kg, 12.35 kg and 0.01 kg. The washing efficiency and percentage loss were 75.3 % and 0.08 % respectively. There are no damages to the egusi. The machine capacity is 32.14 kg/batch. This design and set of conditions selected were the most preferred because of the low cost, rapid operation and minimal human energy expenditure.