All crops need to be washed before they can be processed or sold, but cleaning is especially important for crops that grow underground, such as potatoes and peanuts. Our team at Merritt Mechanical Fabrication has a great deal of experience in working with peanut farmers, and we offer robust peanut cleaning systems to help with this critical part of crop preparation.
In this article, we will provide a brief overview of how a peanut cleaning system works.
- Metal Detection – One of the first stages peanuts pass through in a peanut cleaning system is a metal detector station. This ensures that no metal fragments from the earth make their way into packaged peanuts.
- Screening – Next, peanut cleaning systems use screens and mechanical agitation to remove dirt, debris, and other material from the peanuts. This step removes the bulk of soil from the harvested peanuts.
- Air Blowers – In addition to screening, peanut cleaning systems also use air blowers to remove any lighter debris (such as leaf or grass fragments) from the peanuts. The peanuts themselves are heavy enough to remain in place, so they are left behind on the processing belts.
- Sorting – The next stage in a peanut cleaning system is sorting. As the harvested peanuts pass through this part of the system, small, immature peanuts are removed while mature peanuts pass through. This stage is important for preparing the peanuts for further processing, as peanuts roast more evenly when they are similar in size.
If you have further questions about our peanut cleaning systems, we encourage you to give us a call to speak with one of our experts.