Abstract
The purpose of the research work was designing and fabrication of a fruit pulp extracting unit for transformation of locally
produced fruits into pulp in order to enhance profitability in orchard farming and to reduce the post-harvest losses in Pakistan.
It was also required to be cheap and indigenously manufactured. The centrifugal and shearing force exerted through blades
with incorporated teeth is the basic operational principle of the machine. It consists of a mild steel tapered frame, beater shaft
with three blades having teeth, sieve mesh cylinder; pulp collection chamber, hopper, discharge channel. The machine is run
by a set of pulleys and 1 HP A/C electric motor. Three mango varieties i.e. Sindhari, Chaunsa and Langra at two sieve mesh
sizes 700 micron and 400 micron, two levels of clearance 35mm and 25 mm between sieve mesh cylinder and beater were
selected and tested at 600 rpm. The machine was evaluated according to the methods set for standard evaluation. The time
taken by unit for juice extraction, mass of extracted juice, mass of fruits and mass of residual wastes were noted and used to
find the performance indicators considered. Sindhari variety was the highest juice yielder with juice yield (63.44%,), extraction
efficiency (56.7%) and extraction loss (10.44%) at 700 micron sieve mesh size and 35 mm clearance between sieve and beater.
Pulp extracting capacity of the unit is 25 kg of pulp per hour with an affordable cost of Rs.2, 25,000.
Ahmad Shafi, Hasan Farid Khan. (2020) DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF AN IMPROVED MECHANIZED FRUIT PULP EXTRACTING UNIT, Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Volume 57, Issue 1.
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