Design and Fabrication of a Palm Fruit Stripper for Small-Scale Oil Palm Processors in Edo State

This study involves the design, fabrication, and performance evaluation of a motorised palm fruit stripper for small-scale oil palm processors in Edo State, South South Nigeria. The stripping of palm fruits from harvested bunches is a critical pre-processing step in palm oil production, traditionally accomplished by hand beating using wooden poles. Manual stripping is physically demanding, slow, and results in incomplete fruit separation that reduces oil extraction efficiency. This study designs a rotary drum stripper using mild steel, rubber-lined beater bars, and a 2.2 kilowatt electric motor. The design incorporates an adjustable drum clearance mechanism to accommodate variation in bunch sizes from different palm varieties. Performance evaluation is conducted using Empty Fruit Bunch samples from farms in Ovia North-East and Akoko-Edo local government areas. Parameters measured include stripping efficiency, fruit damage rate, throughput capacity, and energy consumption. Findings reveal that the fabricated machine achieves stripping efficiency of 96.3 percent with fruit damage below 5 percent, at a throughput capacity of 650 kilograms of bunches per hour. The machine reduces stripping time by 92 percent compared to manual methods and increases oil extraction rate by improving fruit exposure. The study concludes that the motorised palm fruit stripper offers significant efficiency gains for Edo State small-scale processors. It recommends petrol engine adaptation to expand applicability to off-grid rural processing centres.

Keywords: palm fruit stripper, oil palm processing, Edo State, mechanisation, post-harvest.