Study and design of a cassava peeling machine

Abstract

Cassava production in Benin is estimated at more than 4,5 million tonnes in 2018. Most of this production is for self-consumption and post-processing marketing. The actors in this sector transform fresh cassava into several other products (gari, tapioka, atièkè, lafun, cossette, flour breadmaking...), recognized worldwide and particularly in Africa. From an artisanal processing, the transformers in this sector, have gone through a semi-industrial transformation, thanks to the mechanization of some painful operations that used to consume a lot of time during processing. My job, was to study and design a machine that can peel cassava. This peeling operation was previously done manually using a knife or special manual tools (peelers...) and associated with a significant consumption of working time and the risk of injury and loss. The present machine, must allow the improvement of the safety, the quality of the operation as well as the significant reduction of the duration of execution. It will consist of a wooden drum whose interior is lined with wire brush fibers, driven by a motor (electric or thermal) or by the operator with a pedal, if any.