Garri frying is the most critical unit operation in the processing of cassava into garri. The quality of the final product is much dependent on this processing stage which is a combination of simultaneous cooking and drying processes. This work presents the development of a garri fryer and the performance evaluation of the machine at various operational parameters. The fryer throughput capacity, (TP) and functional/drying efficiency, were used to evaluate the performance of the fryer. The cooking and drying performance of the developed machine accounted for throughput capacity of 20.66kg/hr and functional efficiency of 66%. In addition, a preferred final moisture content of 12.14%w.b. was achieved at 20rpm paddle speed and frying time of 23 minutes. The equipment have addressed the short coming observed in the village technique such as time-consumption, health hazard for the operator. In addition, it is user friendly as it requires no skilled labour and also uses different heat sources for convenience of the user.

The processing of Palm fruit juice in Nigeria have not been fully exploited due to its non-mechanization. Large percentage of palm fruit juice in Nigeria market is processed from the traditional method which is not only unhygienic but is equally labourious and time consuming. In this research work, a palm fruit juice extracting machine comprising an outer tub, inner tub, shaft, pulley, electric motor, belt, band heater, agitator and lagging material was developed and tested. The machine was evaluated for performance and the results obtained show throughput capacity of 0.87kg/min and efficiency of 93.7 . In addition, at a process time of 12.6min the mechanized method gave an average process efficiency of 93.22% against the traditional method with efficiency of 48.33%. The juicer was powered with 1HP electric motor. All the materials used in the fabrication of this machine were sourced locally and the estimated cost of producing one unit is fifty-five thousand, six hundred and fifty naira (₦55, 650.00). This concept design of an integrated palm fruit juice machine has significantly improved ease of extracting juice from palm fruits and drastically reduce intensive labour with improved hygiene. This machine is therefore highly recommended over the traditional method.

An appraisal of the soil-water bath (wet separation) method showed that the method is based on the difference in density/specific gravity of the palm kernels and the shells. In this study, the separation of palm kernel-shell mixture using separating agent other than clay soil (kaolin) in wet separation have been considered. Measured masses of soil were added incrementally into 40 L of water and its density calculated and recorded. The separation efficiency of an alternative medium (laterite) was compared with that of clay soil (kaolin). Different mass quantities of kernel/shell mixture were poured into the red mud soil (laterite) slurry, and stirred. The part of Kernel/shell mixture that floated were scooped off and the Kernel selected and weighed. From observations made, the density/specific gravity increases with increase in mass of separating agent in water. The separating efficiency increased with increased soil input, till the 18kg mark of soil input for both separating agents, when the floated kernel weight begins to be constant and highest. The optimal separation efficiency was found at medium/water ratio of 0.45:1. The effectiveness of the red mud (laterite) sample was found to be comparable to clay (kaolin) at a medium-to-water ratio of 0.45:1 giving 98.93% efficiency. Thus, it is recommended to be used as an alternative to clay for wet separation.

Plantain being a perishable fruit, there may be want for it to be processed into flour and different product sorts to increase its shelf life. Hence, this research work presents the design of a process machine for plantain flour production from unripe plantain. An integrated plantain flour processing machine was designed and developed in this study. The average performance indices of the developed machine recorded include the throughput capacity of 36.53kg/hr and machine efficiency of 88.65%. This system dries and pulverizes the peeled and probable sliced unripe plantain into flour with high performance. The proximate composition and functional properties results of the processed flour showed wholesomeness in the product. The usage of unripe plantain flours in the food industry have to be recommended in Nigeria. This will wherein make for good enough plantain grown. Thus, it will assist to enhance the dietary and fitness fame of Nigerians as a result of the high protein and micronutrient concentrations in unripe plantain.

A quadratic model was developed in this study to predict equipment life span for a preventive maintenance planning of KHS DMG-VF84 bottling line system. This life span forecasting model for KHS DMGVF84 bottling line system predict equipment life span at an instant of time. The six key predictors that were significant in the developed model are: Availability (A), Reliability (R), Mean time to Repair (T), Failure rate (F), Operational time (O) and Mean time before failure (B). The model utilized the polynomial method to predict the end of life of the bottling line system. The test data showed that the mean absolute percentage error for this model is 7.5% and has the ability to predict life span of the bottling line system with a good degree of accuracy of 79.65% with ± 0.20% error and the coefficients of determination R2 for the developed model is 0.7965. This indicates that the relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variables of the developed model is good and the predicted values from a forecast model fit with the real-life data as well. Therefore, maintenance professionals should adopt this model for accurate estimates, to enable good detection of possible failures in production machineries.