Throughput capacity

Despite the availability of palm fruit digesters in Nigeria, many of them remain inefficient due to outdated designs, poor material choices that increases the susceptibility to corrosion, and poor hygiene, as a result the aim of this project is to design and fabricate an improved vertical palm fruit digester with enhanced efficiency, hygiene and durability, suitable for small to medium- scale processing, specifically but not limited to South-South Nigeria. To address these challenges, the improved digester incorporates stainless steel for fabrication material to prevent rust and contamination. The digester employs a vertical chamber with an optimized shaft and angled beater arms to ensure thorough maceration of the palm fruit without damaging the nuts. Material selection, fabrication, and performance testing, which involved sourcing of fresh palm fruit bunches that were sterilized by boiling (increasing the efficiency of maceration) and then digested in controlled batches of varying masses (7kg, 9kg, 10kg and lastly 10kg. Total of 36kg) led to the gathering of data for improved results. The performance of the digester was evaluated based on digestion time, throughput capacity, effectiveness of maceration and the quality of sludge produced. The results gathered indicated that the improved digester was capable of processing a total of 36kg boiled palm fruit in 1020 seconds, with the digestion time increasing proportionally with the size of palm fruit batch. The digester achieved an average throughput of 127kg/hr, which demonstrates improved efficiency compared to traditional small-scale digesters. The use of stainless steel eradicates the issue of corrosion seen in mild steel designs, therefore enhancing durability and preventing contamination. The fabricated vertical palm fruit digester offers a significant improvement in efficiency (approximately 95%), durability and product quality making it a preferable choice for small-scale palm oil processing.