The raw cocoa beans are cleaned by passing them over a shaking table covered with a metal screen which has holes smaller in size than the beans.
A set of vibrating screens removes both very large and very small particles by sieving.
The machinery consist of a series of separations, which by means of screens of varying meshes, brushes, air lifts and magnetic separators – removes fiber, stones and grit, metal bean cluster and immatures.
Sand, dust and other foreign material are screened out. Stones, metals and other heavy materials drop to the bottom of the chute which is counterpoised by weighted lever.
Removal of dust and sand is very important, due to its abrasive nature, which will rapidly wear the balls mills, or the surface of refiner rolls.
Immature beans and clusters not be allowed to proceed to roasting and subsequent manufacturing processes, but may be included in bean blends with other winnowing products for expeller pressing to produce cocoa butter.
Cleaning of cocoa raw beans
