| The morama bean (Tylosema esculentum) is an underutilised legume native to the Kalahari region of Southern Africa. Some engineering properties relevant to the mechanisation of its processing have been characterised, namely; size, shape, surface area, projected area, volume, density, porosity, 1000-grain mass, static angle of repose, static coefficient of friction and texture. At moisture content of 7.4% (w.b.), the average length, width and thickness of the beans were 19.25, 17.21 and 13.39 mm, respectively. Geometric mean, equivalent diameter and arithmetic mean diameters were 16.4, 16.51 and 16.61 mm, respectively. Morama beans are spherical in shape, having average sphericity of 85.45%, aspect ratio of 0.90 and flakiness ratio of 0.78. Surface... |
