Design and Fabrication of a Hammer Mill with Dual Cyclone Separator for Flour Production

A hammer mill integrated with a dual-cyclone separation system was designed, fabricated, and evaluated for flour production from dried cassava, yam, and potato. The machine, driven by a 15 hp electric motor, was tested using a uniform screen aperture of 250 µm at three feed moisture contents (9%, 10%, and 11%) and three hammer speeds (1200, 1300, and 1400 rpm), with a fixed batch size of 5 kg. Performance was assessed in terms of milling time, flour recovery from the primary and secondary cyclones, material retained on the screen and hammer chamber, moisture gain, spillage/dust loss, milling efficiency, cyclone separation efficiency, dual-cyclone capture effectiveness, and throughput. Results showed that milling efficiency and throughput increased with hammer speed but decreased with increasing moisture content across all three materials, with cassava consistently recording the highest efficiency and potato the lowest. Milling efficiency ranged from 87.7% to 91.2%, while the dual-cyclone system achieved a flour capture effectiveness exceeding 95% in all trials, confirming that the secondary cyclone significantly reduced product loss relative to a conventional single-cyclone design. A hammer speed of 1400 rpm combined with a feed moisture content of 9% gave the best overall performance. The study demonstrates that the dual cyclone hammer mill is an effective, reduced loss solution for small to medium scale flour production from tuber crops.

Hammer mill; Dual cyclone separator; Flour production; Milling efficiency; Moisture content; Cassava, yam and potato; Throughput capacity; Machine performance evaluation

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