Development of meat-bone separator for small scale fish processing.

The belt and drum type meat-bone separator was developed for small-scale fish processing and evaluated using Tilapia fish (Oreochromis mossambicus) in terms of capacity, yield, percentage yield, bone content, colour and power consumption. It consists of a perforated drum (3 mm), single phase electric motor, speed reduction gear box and drive system. The machine was evaluated using two food grade belt viz., natural rubber (Belt A-35 shore) and canvas belt (Belt B-65 shore) for three drum speeds. The machine capacity was in the range of 45.59 to 68.54 kg h(-1) for belt A with a yield of 1.148, 1.069 and 1.066 kg, and 49.13 to 78.13 kg h(-1) for belt B with a yield of 1.253, 1.312 and 1.269 kg at drum speeds of 14, 20 and 24 rpm, respectively. For belt A, the highest yield (1.148 kg) was obtained at 14 rpm drum speed which was 63.78% on dressed weight basis and for belt B, the highest yield (1.312 kg) was obtained at 20 rpm drum speed which was 72.89% on dressed weight basis. The increased number of passes for meat recovery increased the chances of insertion of bone fragments into minced meat and decreased the colour values (L-a-b). The total energy consumption did not vary significantly.