If you’re new to harvesting peanuts, you’ll need to learn about a couple crucial pieces of machinery to ensure safe and efficient operations. For instance, if you are managing a large-scale peanut farm, investing in a peanut cleaning system is vital for your company’s success.
Our team at Merritt Mechanical Fabrication has been serving the needs of Georgia peanut farmers for over 50 years, providing high-quality equipment that keeps their businesses running at peak efficiency. We’re proud to manufacture peanut cleaning systems for clients throughout the region, and in this article, we’d like to dive into the exact process that happens behind the scenes in one of these fascinating machines.
- Pre-Cleaning. The first step of a peanut cleaning system involves removing soil, vines, leaves, and other large pieces of debris from the peanuts.
- Screening. Next, the peanuts move through a screen that further separates the dirt and other impurities left over on the shells.
- Air Separation. To reduce waste and remove foreign materials or immature peanuts, air blowers or air beds are used to lift away lighter objects while leaving the mature peanuts behind.
- Sizing and Grading. As the mature peanuts go through the rest of the peanut cleaning system, they’ll typically pass through a progression of small screens and rollers to sort them into categories based on their size or weight.
- Inspecting and Sorting. The last step involves a final inspection to remove any remaining foreign objects, damaged peanuts, or other unwanted debris. Some advanced peanut cleaning systems feature optical sorters that can automatically identify damaged peanuts and remove them from the high-quality nuts.