Dual desirability function and RSM approaches for modeling the ideal nonwoven cover bunch for protecting date fruit

Abstract

According to literature survey, many works have dealt with studying the effect of some bags on biological, chemical and physical quality of date fruit. In this study, RSM (response surface methodology) modeling and desirability function methods were applied and compared to predict the overall quality of cover date bunch samples. Five nonwoven bagging product are selected to be examined that are used for the first time on date palm sector. The results proved that a high quality of bagging product could be obtained in optimal conditions. Using the influential parameters and optimized conditions as fabric weight, thickness, air permeability, resistance to water penetration, tear strength and tensile strength, the results indicate that the cover date bunch remains influenced especially by the air permeability properties and tensile strength as well. Desirability function has been proven to be effective to achieve ideal design performance. The results show that the highest desirability reached is 0.6.However, the efficient approaches to identify the relevant parameters and the relation between different quality features and parameters have not been completely studied. To overcome the gap, a combined method including desirability function and response surface methodology (RSM) was proposed. Referring to previous works, desirability function allows a high level of flexibility over classical mathematical methods in evaluating and defining global quality. According to the analytical results obtained, the desirability function method gives a more accurate prediction than the RSM one.