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Improvement of a flour batch-mixer

Company: Partners in Food Solutions

Major(s):
Primary: ME
Secondary: IE

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

Partners in Food Solutions has, in the past, worked with some designers as well as fabrication workshops to produce a 50 kg batch mixer that is used by micro-millers to add powdered vitamins and minerals to corn flour. This equipment is now in use at over 150 milling sites across Kenya. Though the mixer has, in general, achieved a good mixing efficiency, there are cases where the efficiency does not meet the standard. One of the observations that we have made is that at times some of the flour gets stuck to the sides of the drum and this could contribute to some parts of the batch having varying amounts of the vitamins and minerals. Another challenge that the operators have mentioned is that in some cases, the mixed flour does not freely discharge from the gate at the bottom of the mixer after the mixing cycle ends. We would like to have the current design relooked into with the objective of improving on the current features to eliminate the issues described above. Once we get a prototype that is optimal, PFS can use it for future scale-up.