A Separator Roselle (calyx) sepals machine was developed and fabricated in a local shop. The experiments have been carried out at El-Kasassin Horticulture Research station during harvesting season 2011. The studied parameters were; three cutting sepals pipe speed, different span times between harvesting and separation process (directly after harvesting, second day and third day), wood feeding disc with different orifice dimensions. The studied parameters were done at three replicates. The developed machine consists of eighteen separation units fixed in a metal frame ,and operated by electric motor 1hp (0.75 k).The evaluation performance included machine productivity , separation efficiency, energy consumption , sepals damage, and economical costs, the developed machine was evaluated comparing to traditional method.
The obtained data showed that, the highest values of machine productivity of 18.522kg/h, lowest sepals damage 1.66%, separation efficiency of 98.36 % and lowest specific energy consumption of 0.045 kW.h/kg were recorded in the case of cutting sepals pipe speed 100 rpm ,using feeding disk with 21/25 mm oriffice dimension and separation sepals after fruits harvesting directly. The total operation cost of 1.10 L.E/kg and 1.36 L.E/kg were obtained in mechanical and manual separation sepals respectively, but the net crop value from final product of sepals is much more expensive in mechanical method comparing to traditional manual method.