DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF COCOA POD BREAKER

Abstract

The research paper depicts the development and performance evaluation of a mechanical cocoa pod breaker. Cocoa is an important plantation crop grown for chocolates around the world. In India cocoa is cultivated in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Cocoa is the main raw material in the production of chocolates, cosmetics, health drinks, pharmaceuticals etc. It contains about 50 per cent fat, which is useful in the production of candle, soap, ointments, etc. Cocoa butter is also used in the production of pharmaceutical products. One of the important stages of cocoa processing is the separation of beans from their outer shell which takes place after harvesting. Proper separation is necessary to ensure good quality finished products and also to make sure that the fermentation process is carried out efficiently. The cocoa bean damage is one of the main problems of manual pod breaking process. Beans damage, separation of beans from mixtures and scrap shells are the main problems related to cocoa pod breaking. At present the process of breaking cocoa pods is done manually and crudely by the use of wood and cutlass. This is a strenuous task, apart from the large labour requirement and time consumed during the operation. The cutlass damages the beans, resulting to increased losses leading to reduced profit. Hence, cocoa production and processing must be properly improved and mechanized to increase profits and reduce losses. Hence an attempt was made to develop a cocoa pod breaker. Before the fabrication of the machine, the engineering properties of cocoa viz., physical, mechanical and frictional properties of fresh cocoa pod were studied. The cocoa used for testing were procured from progressive farmers at Meloor Chalakudy, Thrissur district and Palachode, Malappuram district. Matured fruits of various sizes were collected for carrying out the required tests.Cocoa pod breaking machine was developed and fabricated in Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur Workshop. It consists of a feeding platform, chain and grippers, cutting tool and motor and gear mechanism and frame assembly. Cocoa fruit was manually placed on the feeding platform longitudinally between two grippers. The electric supply was put on and the motor started rotating at a speed of 1420 rpm. The power of the motor was transmitted to the chain with the help of gear and shaft. The speed of motor was reduced to 37 rpm by speed reduction mechanism. As the chain rotated, the gripper carried the cocoa pod and pressed against the cutting blade resulted in cocoa pod breaking. The blade cut the pods into two equal halves and thereby beans were removed. Beans were then collected into a tray placed at the bottom. The performance of the developed cocoa pod breaker was evaluated in terms of its capacity, percentage bean damage, efficiency and energy requirement. It was observed that the average time required for breaking 15 cocoa pods using pod breaker was 144 s where as in manual method was 149 sec and the average bean damage percent was found to be 3.9%. Energy required for breaking pods were 0.1kWh and the capacity was found to be 112.68 kg/h compared to the 107.4 kg/h capacity of the manual pod breaker. It is observed that the quality parameters viz., total fat, free fatty acid, poly phenol and theobromine content of fermented cocoa beans extracted using mechanical method were 48.53, 0.9, 0.25 and 1.83 respectively. From physico chemical analysis of fermented beans, it is concluded that the quality of cocoa beans extracted using cocoa pod breaker is on par with the manual method of pod breaking.The total cost of the equipment is calculated to be 22,000 rupees and the cost of operation of cocoa pod breaker was estimated as Rs.28.5/- per hour. Hence, it is concluded that, the developed cocoa pod breaking machine could be benefitted for small and medium scale cocoa growers/entrepreneurs and could be enhanced their financial status which perhaps create a positive influence in state and national economy. .