Response Surface Methodology to Optimize Process Parameters for Dehulling of Oats

Abstract

Background: Oats provide a tough challenge to miller, consists of rigid outer covering called hull that comprises 30-35% of the weight of the oat grain. Hull composed of cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin which are inedible and not digested by humans and should be separated from oats. The study would enhance the utilization of this nutritional cereal to daily diets, as the processing of oats has not yet been exploited much at rural level in India. Methods: The present investigation was aimed at optimizing the dehulling process to enhance recovery of oat groats. The best combination of dehulling parameters was obtained with response surface methodology (RSM) using Box-Behnken design. The independent process variables for dehulling of oats were moisture content (8-14%), feed rate (6-12 kg/h) and number of passes (2-4). Result: Seventeen experimental runs in triplicate were conducted to obtain optimal condition moisture content: 10.62% (wb), feed rate: 7.57 kg/h and repetitive passes: 4 with dehulling efficiency of 65.79%, groat recovery 47.16% and broken percent 14.42% respectively. An analysis of variance (ANNOVA) revealed that the process variables, dehulling efficiency, groat recovery and broken percent decreased significantly (p less than 0.05) with the increase in moisture content, feed rate and number of passes respectively.