Development of a Gasoline Food-Grade Magnetic Hammer Mill and Estimation of Milling and Energy Consumption Pattern of Some Selected Food Materials

Abstract

This study was aimed to develop a laboratory-scale gasoline food-grade magnetic hammer mill and to estimate the milling efficiency, milling yield, milling time, energy consumption and energy intensity of some selected food materials (soybean, rice and cassava flakes). The hopper, shaft, sieve and hammers of the gasoline food-grade magnetic hammer mill are made of stainless steel and the structural base is made of mild steel. The cost of developing the gasoline food-grade magnetic hammer mill was ₦ 149,000. Cassava flakes were observed to have the highest milling yield (940 g), lowest energy consumption (0.94 MJ), energy intensity (0.94 MJ/kg) and the highest milling efficiency (94 %) while soybean was observed to have the longest milling time (5.86 mins). The developed gasoline food-grade magnetic hammer mill could be adopted for milling different food materials but its performance varies based on the food material.