Development of A Prototype Garri Mixing Machine for ‘Eba’ Preparation

Abstract

Eba is a Nigerian staple food eaten all over the country and beyond. It is made from fried grated cassava (manioc) flour, commonly called garri. Garri is a by-product of cassava. However, the final step of manually mixing the milled garri with hot water to produce eba proves to be time-consuming and physically demanding, particularly in large-scale food production. Development of a prototyped garri mixing machine for “eba” preparation is a step towards minimizing intensive human labour usually involved in the process of preparing eba when using manual method. This machine is designed to efficiently mix the required amount of garri with hot water at the desired temperature. Notable features include adjustable mixing speeds, and a user-friendly interface, all contributing to ease of operation. The machine is also designed to comprise mixing paddle, 0.5 HP electric motor, mixing bowl and lid, and support frame. The components were designed, materials carefully selected, fabricated and assembled accordingly. Experimental runs were conducted to evaluate the performance of the mixing machine by testing the mixing paddle for its ability to uniformly blend garri with water. The results showed that the mixing paddle effectively reduced the mixing time by 40% compared to traditional manual methods. It was also observed that it took the machine average of 34 minutes to boil 0.003m³ of water and prepare 1.30 kg of eba from 1.20 kg of garri. The consistency of the mixture was evaluated using a uniformity index, where the developed machine achieved a score of 0.95, indicating highly uniform mixing. The quality performance efficiency of the machine is also calculated to be 82.25 %.   This is attributed to the optimized paddle design and the calculated torque provided by the motor, which ensured that all parts of the mixture were evenly stirred. It can be concluded that the machine is functional.