Elucidating the energy-utilization patterns for five methods of groundnut cake (Kulikuli) production

Abstract

Food industry remains an integral part of the energy-intensive industries. In order to minimise the operating and maintenance cost in the industry, the cost of energy consumption should be monitored. Therefore, energy requirements in groundnut cake production for five alternative methods were elucidated. Groundnut cake was produced using five different methods and energy used for each unit operation was calculated using standard equations. Major energy sources for the production of groundnut cake were fuel, human labour and electrical energy. Sensory attributes of the products were determined by panellists. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and analysis of variance at p≤0.05. Total energy consumed by the traditional and semi-mechanized processes 1-4 were 31,629.12 kJ, 8079.74 kJ, 7932.94 kJ, 8730.58 kJ, and 8519.8 kJ, respectively. Energy intensity for traditional and semi-mechanized processes 1-4 were 9210.93 kJ/kg, 2107.39 kJ/kg, 2069.10 kJ/kg, 2277.15 kJ/kg and 2222.17 kJ/kg, respectively. The frying process was the most energy intensive in both traditional and semi-mechanized process 3 with the energy of 13193.28 kJ and 2232.12 kJ, respectively. Peeling and slicing consumed the least amount of energy (60.4 kJ) in all processes. In semi-mechanized processes 1, 2 and 4, the dry-milling emerged the most energy consuming, with energy of 2240 kJ, 2240 kJ and 2145.6 kJ, respectively. Although, groundnut cake that was produced by traditional method was the most acceptable by the panellist, there was no outright rejection of any sample. Energy consumption pattern and quality attributes of kulikuli produced from traditional and semi-mechanisation of production methods were influenced by the type of unit operation, the technology involved and the size of the equipment used. Semi-mechanised methods required the low energy consumption in the production of acceptable kulikuli.