Development and Performance Evaluation of an Oil Palm Fruit Digester

Abstract

An oil palm fruit digester was designed, fabricated and tested. The materials for fabrication were sourced locally. The machine was tested for throughput capacity (Dc) and efficiency (η). Average throughput capacity of 330.91 kg/h and efficiency of 62.35% were obtained. Rate of digestion increased with the increase in mass of the digesting palm fruits while the efficiency of the oil palm fruit digester decreased with increase in mass of the digesting palm fruit in some cases. The machine is simple to operate and maintain.