Design and fabrication of a vertical palm fruit digester

The main objective of this project is to design and fabricate a power controlled vertical palm fruit digester in order to reduce the rigours encountered by the traditional method of digestion while optimizing the production of good quality palm oil. Digestion is the process of releasing the palm oil in the fruit through the rupturing or breaking down of the oil bearing cells. The machine works on a rotary impact principle. The vertical palm fruit digester was designed, fabricated and tested. The materials for the design were locally sourced. The performance test evaluation shows that the machine has a performance capacity of 740kg/h with an efficiency of 92.31%. The digester is made up of simple components that can be easily assembled. Thus, the operation and maintenance is quite easy.