| Abstract |
A local corn sheller was evaluated at different rotational speeds of (40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 rpm) and moisture contents of (12, 16 and 20%). The performance was evaluated in terms of sheller productivity, shelling efficiency, unshelled grains, grain damage, loose grains at kernel outlet, cleaning efficiency, shelling time, total power consumption, specific energy consumption and total costs. Sheller productivity, shelling efficiency, and the percentage of unshelled grains ranged from 0.43 to 1.46 ton/h, from 94.25 to 99.43%, and from 0.57 to 5.75%, respectively. The percentage of grain damage, loose grains at kernel outlet and cleaning efficiency ranged from 0.21 to 2.13%, from 1.57 to 25.15% and from 99.32 to 99.85%, respectively. Meanwhile, shelling time, total power consumption, and specific energy consumption ranged from 0.69 to 2.34 h/ton, from 1.07 to 2.93 kW, and from 0.74 to 6.87 kW.h/ton, respectively. The total costs ranged from 18.19 to 64.42 LE/ton. It was found that increasing the speed caused an increase in performance of shelling and the percentage of broken grains. It is concluded that corn having 12 % moisture content that fed to the sheller at rotational speed of 120 rpm gave the best performance of shelling. |
