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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Buchanania lanzan (Chironji) a member of family Anacardiaceae consist of a hard nut that on decortication yields kernel containing 52% of oil and this oil is used as a substitute for olive and almond oil. Also, kernel is used for sweet meals, medicinal purpose, cosmetics etc. By manual decortication the capacity was observed to be minimum and recovery of whole kernel was nearly 12% only. This manual method is time consuming, laborious, inefficient and there is fear of injury to fingers. Decortication of chironji nut is a major problem and hence this valuable chironji kernel is to be procured at high price i.e. Approx. Rs.700-1000, whereas the chironji nut could be purchased at the rate of Rs. 100 to 150/kg. As the kernel is valuable, it was necessary to get maximum recovery during decortication so as to reduce the cost. Thus, considering all the facts related to the valuable kernel, decortication followed by drying of nut has been studied in detailed to obtain maximum recovery of good quality kernels. The RSM technology is applied for optimization of process parameters. Optimization of process parameters using response surface methodology (RSM) greatly overcomes the numbers of experimental trials generally undertaken for decorticating study of chironji nuts apart from maximizing the output of the system. The independent parameters for chironji nut decortication viz., drying temperature, drying time and clearance between discs were optimized using RSM. The drying temperature of 69.610 °C, drying time 163.87 min and clearance between disc 12 mm were found optimal. The whole kernel recovery, decorticating efficiency, unshelled nut, broken kernel and capacity of machine at optimized independent parameters were 27.72% (fraction of chironji kernel to shell 30.01% to 69.99%), 85.299 %, 11.50 %, 3.687 % and 6.232 kg/h respectively. The investigation is most useful to the small farmers, small entrepreneurs, Self-help group, Organic farming groups, Tribal group, A rural youth, Ladies bachat group who are involved in decortication of chironji nut.