Development of a cassava processing unit/ Christian John M. Darvin, Ma. Angelica C. Dela Cueva, John Ian I. Ecube, and Al Ravin M. Faller.--

Bachelor's thesis

College of Engineering.-- Bachelor of science in mechanical engineering: Technological University of the Philippines, 2019.

Includes bibliographic references and index.

The study focuses on the development of a cassava processing machine capable of
peeling, granulating and drying the harvested cassava.
This study employed the systems development method (SDM) in which a prototype
of the machine was built, tested, and reworked until the acceptable model was finally
achieved. The developed machine is comprised of three (3) main parts namely, peeler,
granulator, and drier. The peeler was made of circular expanded wires that are being rotated
using sprocket and chain attachments to peel cassava tubers by abrasion. The granulator
consists of a rack and pinion for driving the press and the cutter is a reciprocating type,
both using electric motor as its prime mover. The press and cutter are moving alternately
to produce the desired granules. The dryer has an electric heater with fan for drying of the
cassava granules thus prolonging shelf life as compared to raw cassava granules.
Three test trials were conducted on each of the following test parameters: peeling
efficiency, granulation recovery, and drying effectiveness in terms of reduction in moisture
content of the feed sample.
Results of the tests revealed that the developed prototype can produce an average
of 5.3 kilograms of dried cassava granules the 10-kg sample of unpeeled cassava tubers.
The developed machine has a peeling efficiency of 84.47%. The moisture content of the
processed cassava using the machine can be dried to an average moisture content of
14.97%.