Abstract:
Rice is a universal food grown and eaten in all part of the world. In this study, a rice de-stoner was developed and optimized based on independent parameters: moisture content, feed regulator, and machine speed aided by Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and the response variables consisted were tray loss, impurity level after separation rice separation efficiency, stone separation efficiency and capacity of the machine. The developed rice de-stoner has the optimum machine speed, feed regulator, and moisture content of 189.654 rpm, 7.307 mm and 11.881 respectively. The tray loss, impurity level after separation, rice separation efficiency, stone separation efficiency and machine capacity have optimum values of 9.366 %, 5.713 %, 90.629 %, 72.448 % and 36.951 kg/h with desirability value of 0.713 which indicates the nearness of the response to the predicted values and adequacy of models established in describing the observed values. The optimization of rice de-stoner showed an optimal processing condition for independent parameters and the machine response variables. This research is a contribution to the improvement of the quality of Nigerian rice by providing a low cost of $279 rice de-stoner.
