Development of a decorticator for Buchanania lanzan nuts and its process optimization

Abstract

The study was aimed to develop a decorticator and to standardize the process for separation kernels from nuts. The developed machine was optimized using independent parameters, that is, cold water soaking, steaming, and sand roasting, different moisture levels (7 and 9%), cylinder speed (150 and 300 rpm), and concave clearances (7.5 and 8 mm). The optimum performance of a developed decorticator was obtained when sand roasted nuts (7% moisture content) fed at a cylinder speed of 300 rpm and a concave clearance of 8 mm. At this condition, decortication efficiency, capacity, and whole kernel recovery were 96.10, 64.15, and 12.60%, respectively. The decorticator produced 126 g whole kernels (56.71%) from 1 kg of nuts. The independent process parameters have significant effect on response variables. The machine had low labor requirement, high efficiency, and ease to operate; thus, the results will be useful for processing of nuts and in other studies.Practical applicationsThe chironji nut decorticator has application to decorticate nuts to produce kernel at manufacturing site of food, flavor, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. The kernels have very short shelf‐life because they are very soft and susceptible to mechanical damage and spoilage. The available decorticators have very limited efficiency and more breakage thus the results can be utilized to fill existing gap to obtain increased efficiency and less damage. The results of different treatments to nuts will assist future studies as well.

Design and development of a circular disc type efficient automatic decorticator for Charoli (Buchanania lanzan)

“…The findings of engineering parameters of raw charoli seeds as well as whole kernel are presented in Table 4. The results were found to be in line with the findings reported by Kumar et al (2014Kumar et al ( , 2016, Nishad et al (2019), andSaid andJadhav (2021).…”

“…The arithmetic mean diameter (AMD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) were determined by using the formulae suggested by Mohsenin (1986) as shown in Equations (1)–(2)The electronic weighing balance having a precision of 0.001 g was used for measuring the mass of the 1000 charoli seeds and kernel. The bulk density is the ratio of the mass of the sample to its total volume, and it was measured using the standard method as described by the researchers Kumar et al, 2014, 2016; Nishad et al, 2019, and Said & Jadhav, 2021. The water displacement method was used to determine the true density of the seed and kernel.…”

“…The hardness of single charoli seed was determined by using a texture analyzer (Stable Micro Systems, Surrey UK, model: TA-HD Plus) by adopting the procedures as described by Said and Jadhav (2021). The frictional properties such as angle of repose and static coefficient of friction for charoli seed and kernel were determined using an experimental apparatus (Nishad et al, 2019).…”

“…There is some decorticating machine already developed by few researchers, which works with some inevitable manual intervention. These decorticators have very low capacity (6.2 kg/h) and are capable of recovering only 12.60%–14.69% of the whole kernel (Dange et al, 2019; Pradhan & Pradhan, 2020; Said & Jadhav, 2021). The low recovery of the whole kernel as well as low capacity of available decorticators is not desirable for commercial application.…”

Development of a Snake Gourd Seed Decorticating Machine

“…Seed soaking as a pretreatment before decortication was found to be effective in improving seed shelling efficiency of the machine (Figs 3 and 4 [19] on Buchananian lanzan and [20] on Jatropha seed.…”