Examination of the possibility of separation of the hazelnut collected by mechanized hazelnut harvest from stone and soil in horizontal air tunnel

In this study, it was aimed to determine the possibilities of cleaning and the necessary system parameters by using horizontal air tunnel of stone-soil from the material mixture collected from the ground during hazelnut harvesting. The experiments were carried, in two different mixing ratios (6 % stone, 6 % soil and 88 % seed hazelnut, single, double, triple hazelnut and husk (A) and 10 % stone, 10% soil and 80% seed hazelnut, single, double, triple hazelnut and husk, at four different feed rates (500, 750, 1000 and 1250 kg h-1) and five different air velocities (25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 ms-1). As a result, the highest cleaning efficiency values for mixtures A and B were obtained at air velocities of 25-30 m s-1 and 30-40 cm product spill distances, respectively. While the stone and soil clearing efficiencies in A mixture were 91 % and 89 %, B mixture were 89% and 84%, respectively. For the same parameters, the loss hazelnut ratios were 9 % in mixture A and 10 % mixture B