A review of unboiled arecanut drying process and its correlation with mechanical properties

Abstract

It has been revealed through literature review that, numerous challenges are still to be addressed in developing scientific grading methods for agricultural produce like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds etc. due to their physical nature and mechanical behavior. Their classification is primarily based on visual attributes and human expertise. The present methods of the manual grading of arecanuts are tedious, labour intensive and the grading equipments are mainly based on size, shape color and texture. Further, they do not take into account the physical and mechanical properties that have a strong correlation with the moisture content of the nuts, that largely impacts their inherent characteristics. The potential medicinal and industrial applications of arecanuts call for scientific and automated quality grading systems. India being the largest producer of Arecanut in the world, accounting for more than 50% of the world’s output has several sorting centers in need of accurate and reliable quality grading solutions. In this paper an attempt is made to study and review the existing drying processes which largely determine the quality characteristics of unboiled type arecanuts widely grown in coastal states of India as well as other parts of Asia. Research publications pertaining to the investigation of the physical and mechanical properties with respect to the moisture content in the context of dehusking, cutting operations and evaluation of kernel properties for sorting and other post processing operations are also reviewed. This work articulates the use of statistical techniques in quality characterization with minimal error, emphasizing on the future scope of research in optimization of grading and drying parameters for processed arecanuts of unboiled category. Further these studies could help in the development of quality grading and drying systems.