THE DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A LOCUST BEAN BOILER

African

locust bean is a leguminous plant that is rich in nutrients and is used as food

condiment. The traditional method of processing this food condiment is mostly

unhygienic; consume a lot of fire wood, human energy and time. Using

traditional methods for boiling 33.7Kg of locust bean would take about 12

hours. This study attempts to mechanize the existing traditional methods of

boiling  locust bean by designing,

constructing, and evaluating electrically powered locust bean boiler. The boiler

consists of three composite drums, each with a cylindrical upper part and

conical lower part. The boiling chamber is made of 304 austenitic stainless

steel which contains the heating elements. Fibre glass is lodged between the

steel materials as an insulator. As power is supplied to the boiler, the

elements convert the electrical energy to heat energy attaining the temperature

of 200.7°C in 5 minutes. The machine has the capacity of boiling 33.7Kg of

locust bean in 1 hour at 90°C. The cost of producing a unit is
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">₦20,207.5.