Vol. 8, Issue 11, Part N (2024)

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is known as “Golden spice of India”. The post-harvest unit operations of turmeric, i.e. cleaning, curing, drying, polishing, grinding and packaging. This study aimed to design and development of small scale turmeric polisher to improve the polishing percentage and to reduce the post-harvest loss of turmeric rhizomes. A dried turmeric rhizome polisher was modified and fabricated. The developed machine was evaluated for its performance against polishing percentage, rate of polishing and machine output. The developed machine consists of mainframe, electric motor, power transmission system, polishing drum, collecting plate, pedestal bearings and nut-bolts. It works on the principle of abrasion and shearing. The performance was carried at constant time of 30 min at 3 various capacities (6, 8 and 10 kg) with 3 different speeds (50, 55 and 60 rpm) against polishing percentage. The maximum polishing percentage is observed for 6 kg capacity at 55 rpm with polish percentage of 7.9%. The rate of polishing and machine output is also calculated for 3 different capacities (6, 8 and 10 kg) at 3 different time period (10, 20 and 30 min) by keeping speed constant as 55 rpm. The highest rate of polishing and machine output is 0.956 kg/min and 33.76 kg/h at 10 kg capacity against 50 rpm and the least values are 0.184 kg/min and 10.05 kg/h for 6 kg capacity against 60 rpm.