African
locust bean is a leguminous plant that is rich in nutrients and is used as food
condiment. The traditional method of processing this food condiment is mostly
unhygienic; consume a lot of fire wood, human energy and time. Using
traditional methods for boiling 33.7Kg of locust bean would take about 12
hours. This study attempts to mechanize the existing traditional methods of
boiling locust bean by designing,
constructing, and evaluating electrically powered locust bean boiler. The boiler
consists of three composite drums, each with a cylindrical upper part and
conical lower part. The boiling chamber is made of 304 austenitic stainless
steel which contains the heating elements. Fibre glass is lodged between the
steel materials as an insulator. As power is supplied to the boiler, the
elements convert the electrical energy to heat energy attaining the temperature
of 200.7°C in 5 minutes. The machine has the capacity of boiling 33.7Kg of
locust bean in 1 hour at 90°C. The cost of producing a unit is
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">₦20,207.5.