Design and development of manual water chestnut (Trapa natans) decorticator for Kashmir Valley, India

Study was carried out to find the effects of moisture content and screen perforation area on decortication efficiency of water chestnut decorticator. The decortication efficiency was maximum 52.70 % in screen C (area of perforation 38%) at 9% moisture content. Average amount of broken decreased with increase in area of perforations whereas the average amount of unhusked water chestnut increased with increase in the area of perforations of the screens. The decortication time decreased with increase in percentage area of perforation. The shelling efficiency obtained for screen D (i.e. Rhombus Slotted Mesh) was the maximum. The reason for obtaining higher shelling efficiency with the screen D was due to more area of perforations (72%), the shape of the kernel and less residence time required during the process of decortication in comparison to those for screens A, B and C. The shelling coefficient increases with the increase in percentage area of perforation. Screen D (72% perforations) showed maximum shelling coefficient for water chestnut decortication.