Development and Performance Evaluation of a Cocoa Bean Sheller cum Winnower
K. Shahama
Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, AICRP on PHET, Tavanur- 679573, India.
M. G. Anjaly *
Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, AICRP on PHET, Tavanur- 679573, India.
G. K. Rajesh
Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, AICRP on PHET, Tavanur- 679573, India.
M. Sneha
Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, AICRP on PHET, Tavanur- 679573, India.
P. Sanjay
Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, AICRP on PHET, Tavanur- 679573, India.
Anjali Palakkeel
Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, AICRP on PHET, Tavanur- 679573, India.
Anjana Narayanan
Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, AICRP on PHET, Tavanur- 679573, India.
Aparna Suresh
Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, AICRP on PHET, Tavanur- 679573, India.
Jaseera Nasrin
Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, AICRP on PHET, Tavanur- 679573, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a commercial plantation crop in India. It is the main raw material in the production of chocolates, cosmetics, health drinks, pharmaceuticals etc. Shelling is one of the primary unit operation and critical step in the processing of chocolate. It affects the quality of the cocoa nibs in terms of flavor and purity. The present study focuses on the development of a cocoa bean sheller cum winnower and its performance evaluation in terms of percentage of cracked and uncracked beans, shelling efficiency, capacity, cleaning efficiency and energy requirement. Roasted cocoa beans were shelled using the developed cocoa bean sheller, which were further subjected to winnowing operation using cocoa bean winnower to separate the shells from the nibs. The shelling efficiency of the developed cocoa bean sheller and cleaning efficiency of the winnower were found to be 98 % and 90.38% respectively.
Keywords: Cocoa bean, sheller, winnower, cocoa nib, primary processing of cocoa