DESARROLLO Y EVALUACIÓN DE UN PROTOTIPO DESCASCARADOR DE FRUTOS DE Ricinus communis L. DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A SHELLING PROTOTYPE OF Ricinus communis L. FRUITS

The castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is grown abundantly in the northeast of Brazil, mostly by small farmers. However, the lack of specific machines to help in the processing and also accessible for low income producers is an obstacle to the expansion of the crop. The development of small machines would benefit, largely, to farmers of this production system, increasing the value added to the final product. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the performance of a machine to shell the fruits of castor bean, variety BRS Energy, and establish an operation methodology. The shelling was carried out with two steel discs coated, one with rubber canvas type and other with rubber ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) type. The rotating disk promotes shelling by friction between the discs and the fruit. The efficiency of the prototype was evaluated with the percentages of shelled seeds (intact), seeds with capsule (marineros) and damaged seeds; 98.9 % of intact seeds was obtained equivalent to that required by the oil extraction industries. The working capacity close to 275 kg h 1 was rated as excellent.