Abstract:
Aloe Vera (Aloe barbadensis Miller) is the world best traditional medicine used in
food, cosmetics, and healthcare industries. Peeling and blending is crucial steps for
processing Aloe Vera juice. But unavailability of the suitable processing equipment
is the main constraints in small and medium enterprises (SME). The research was
to design and develop a hand operated peeling tool (HOPT) and a manual juice
extractor (MJE) for SME. The study was consisted of design, fabrication, testing and
performance evaluation. HOPT was fabricated and comparatively assessed with
knife to evaluate gel recovery, peeling speed, residual gel, input and output capacity
of unskilled labor. Processed defective units (DU) in gel expulsion method were
determined according to the presence of green patches on extracted gel. Data was
analyzed by T-Test and chi-square test at P<0.05. The performance parameters; gel
recovery, peeling speed, input capacity and output capacity were significantly
higher in HOPT compared to knife peeling. HOPT showed 51.37% of time saving
and 5% lower residual gel on peels compared to knife peeling. DU was significantly
lower (P < 0.05) in HOPT compared to the knife peeling. MJE was fabricated and
tested for two sieve diameters (SD) of 2mm and 1mm and extraction efficiency,
juice recovery, extraction loss, extraction rate and input capacity was assessed.
Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA at P < 0.05. The performance of 1 mm SD
showed higher values in extraction efficiency and juice recovery with significantly
lower extraction loss but the extraction rate and input capacity values were higher
in 2 mm SD. Manufacturing cost of the MJE and HOPT are Rs. 24,047.01 and Rs.
6,198.23, respectively. Estimated total juice extraction cost is Rs. 37.96 per kg of
gel using MJE. The Gel expulsion cost of HOPT and knife was calculated as Rs. 2.18,
Rs. 4.37, respectively. MJE and HOPT are cost effective solutions for SME.
