The study examined the energy required in local rice milling process in three towns within Benue State, Nigeria. Three locations were randomly chosen in each town resulting in nine cases that were considered. Well-designed questionnaires were used for data collection. The types of energy utilization (manual, wood fuel and liquid fuel) as well as unit operations (parboiling, sun drying and milling) were identified. The energy analysis was evaluated for 1000 kg of processed rice. Result of the ANOVA showed no significant difference at 95% confidence level of all the nine cases studied. The mean value of the total energy requirement was 6639.87 MJ. The most intensive operation was parboiling, which accounts for 89.86% of the total energy required. The highest energy intensity of 8.0 MJ/kg was recorded in Otukpo. The average energy per unit product was 6.8 MJ/kg. The average productivity per unit energy is 0.15 kg/MJ.

Full text: IJEIR_1732_Final.pdf