PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A LOCALLY MACHINE FOR CHOPPING OF ONION RESIDUES

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assoc. Prof. of Ag. Mach. & Power Eng. Dept., Fac. of Ag. Eng., Al-Azhar Univ., Cairo, Egypt.

2 Lecturer, Ag. Mach. & Power Eng. Dept., Fac. of Ag. Eng., Al-Azhar Univ., Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Crops residues are oneof themostcritical problems, which face the Egyptian farmer especially after harvesting process. The present study was carried out to evaluate of the performance efficiency of stationary threshing and separating machine of wheat crop (locally manufactured); this machine was used to cutting and chopping of onion crop residues (leafs) with the desired cutting lengths for different uses. The used machine was tested and evaluated at chopping drum speeds of 350, 450, 550 and 650 rpmand feeding rates5, 10, 15 and 20 kg/minwith two moisture contents of 11.5 and 17.6 % under air speed of 6 m/s. The results showed that; the stationary thresher machine can be successfully used for cutting and chopping of onion leafs under the following optimum conditions: 650 rpm for drum speed, 20 kg/min for feeding rate and the percentages of cutting length (less than 30 mm) were 42 and 23 % for two tested moisture contents of 17.6 and 11.5 %, respectively, also; the power consumption and specific energy requirement were found to be (14.1 and 23.9 kW) and (12.5 and 21.5 kW.h /Mg) for two tested moisture contents of 17.6 and 11.5 %, respectively. In addition to; analysis of onion leafs samples with two tested moisture contents of 17.6 and 11.5% showed that the protein contents were 10.85 and 9.97 % and fat contents were 1.75 and 6.19 %, respectively. The maximum operation costs were 86.28 LE/h and 76.48 LE /Mg.

Keywords

Main Subjects


Abd-Elrahman, M. M. and M. T. Ebaid (2009). Some factors affecting artificial curing of onion bulbs and its effects on the storability. Misr J. Ag. Eng., 26 (2): 905-919.
Arafa, G. K. (2007). Subdual of stationary thresher machine for chopping restudies. Misr J. Ag. Eng., 24 (3): 504-510.
Awady, M. N. (1978). Engineering of tractors and agricultural machinery, Text Bk., Col. Ag., Ain-Shams Univ., 5th Ed.: 167-187. (In Arabic).
EL-Iraqi, M. and S. El-Khawaga (2002). Design and test performance of cutting machine for some crop residues (a). Misr J. Ag. Eng., 20 (1): 85-101.
Embaby, A. T. (1985). A comparison of the different mechanization systems for cereal crop production. Unpub. MSc. Thesis, Ag. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Agriculture, Cairo Univ.
FAO, (2016). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC
Grahame, D. (2005). Production yearbook for 1990. Horticultural marketing. Food and Agriculture Organization of the united nations, Rome.
Hashish, A. E.; M. A. Hassan and A. F. Abd El-Mottalalab (1994). Some factors affecting performance of chopping, crushing and grinding equipment for field raw- material. J. Chopping grinding equipment. Misr J. Ag. Eng., 11 (3): 669-682.
Luis, F. D.; G. M. Savage; L. L. Eggerth and G. G. Clarence (1993). Composting and recycling municipal solid waste Lewis pup., London PP: 121-175.
Mady, M. A. (1999). Developing a manual cutting machine suitable for mechanical cutting stalks. Misr. J. Ag. Eng., 16 (3): 449-459.
Marita, C. (2006). Recommendations for maintaining postharvest quality. Postharvest Technology Research Information Center. Dept.  of Plant Sci., Univ. of California, Davis, CA: 95616.
Pandey, U. B.; S. R. Bhonde and V. K. Mishra (1992). Shelf life of kharif onion as influenced by curing and storage with foliage. Newsletter Associated Ag. Development Foundation., 13 (1): 5-8.
Yousf, I. S. (2005). A study on performance improvement of the local manufactured hammer mill used in polity forms., J. Ag. Sci. Mansoura Univ., 2 (11): 6827-6840.