| dc.description.abstract | The loss of fresh fruits after harvesting is not new since it has constantly been a challenge for humankind. The growing population in developing countries, where food shortages exist, require serious food security measures to address hunger and malnutrition. To assist small-scale fruit farmers in Uganda with a view to minimizing fruit spoilage, full exploitation of the potential of home-made fruit pulper will offer key advantages for advancing the quality and quantity of juice to overcome the growing challenges posed by globalization, increased competitive pressures and diverse consumer demands.
The Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Makerere University designed and constructed a twenty-five litre fruit pulper, to make sure it is accessible and easily tailored to the processors. But this further called for vigorous testing of this equipment to specify its optimum capacity to the processors for easy adoption.
The Makerere University twenty-five litre pulper was tested at three extraction speed levels (466.67, 700 and 1400 rpm) and two motor horse powers (2hp and 3hp) for test fruits (tomatoes and mangoes). Each of these factors was replicated three times. The optimum operating parameters for maximum pulp yield, maximum extraction efficiency, minimum extraction losses and maximum extraction rate were determined. Results revealed maximum pulp yield of 91.78% at 2hp motor operating at 1400rpm speed, maximum extraction efficiency of 91.52%, maximum extraction rate of 222 Kg/hr and minimum extraction losses of 8.87% at 3hp motor running at a speed of 1400rpm for tomatoes. Maximum pulp yield of 78.71% and maximum extraction efficiency of 73.22% were obtained for mango pulp at 3hp motor running at 1400 rpm speed, while maximum extraction rate of 158 Kg/hr and minimum extraction losses of 18.13% of the mango pulp were obtained still at 3hp motor but running at a speed of 700 rpm. | en_US |
