PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A POWER OPERATED DECORTICATOR FOR PRODUCING WHITE PEPPER FROM BLACK PEPPER

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G. CHITHRA, SANTHI MARY MATHEW and C. DEEPTHI Department of Post Harvest Technology & Agricultural Processing Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology Tavanur-679 573, Malappuram, Kerala, India
Accepted for Publication July 18, 2008

ABSTRACT A power operated decorticator for producing white pepper from black pepper was tested and its performance evaluated. The major parts were grinding surfaces, feed hopper, cylindrical collecting tray, water distribution assembly, 0.5 hp motor and reduction gear of 5:1 ratio. The decortication of the pepper berries was performed by compressive and shearing forces between the grinding surfaces. The experiments were conducted at different soaking times and speeds using various grinding surfaces. A 2-factor experiment in Completely Randomized Design with disc speed and soaking time as factors was adopted. The study showed that the disc speed and soaking time have signicant inuence on decorticating efciency and mechanical damage. The mechanical damage showed an increasing trend at higher speeds. The quality of white pepper obtained using a grinding stone coupled with polyurethane was superior to that obtained by other surfaces used in the experiment. The decorticating efciency was found at a maximum (69.52%) at 71 rpm and 17 h soaking period. The capacity of the developed machine was 1.23 kg/h.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS White pepper is the white inner core obtained after removing the outer skin or pericarp of ripe pepper berries. In some countries, white pepper is preferred over black pepper as its color matches with light-colored food preparations, sauces and soups on which black specks are undesirable and only

Corresponding author. TEL: +91-494-3297522; FAX: +91-494-2686009; EMAIL: Santhin.01@ rediffmail.com Journal of Food Process Engineering 34 (2011) 110. All Rights Reserved. Copyright the Authors Journal Compilation 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-4530.2008.00333.x

G. CHITHRA, S.M. MATHEW and C. DEEPTHI

a mild avor is required. It fetches a high value because of charming creamy white color and low microbial load. Because of the growing world demand for white pepper, considerable expansion in the production of white pepper is the need of the hour. So a power-operated black pepper decorticator for producing white pepper from black pepper was developed, tested and its performance evaluated.

INTRODUCTION Pepper is an essential ingredient in Indian food habits. India is the largest producer and exporter of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) in the world. It is grown in about 2.6 1019 hectares in India with a production of 92,000 tons and productivity of 357 kg/ha (Mathew 2007). White pepper is the white inner core obtained after removing the outer skin or pericarp of ripe pepper berries. It is usually produced by retting, bacterial fermentation, steaming or mechanical decortication. Because of the prolonged retting period of 10 to 15 days, development of characteristic foul smell, fading of color, loss of piperine and retention of microorganisms were reported (Lewis 1982). In the steaming method, harvested berries are cooked in boiling water for 10 to 15 min and the pericarp is removed by using a pulping machine. Due to this process, gelatinization of starch in pepper and loss of volatile principles affect the quality of the white pepper (Gopinathan and Manilal 2005). Enzymatic decortications of black pepper using pectinase for 40 to 50 h of incubation in a basic mineral salt medium with pH 3.5 at 37 to 40C was reported (Gopinathan and Manilal 2004). In some countries, white pepper is preferred over black pepper as its color matches with light-colored food preparations, sauces and soups, on which black specks are undesirable and only a mild avor is required. Having great export potential, the quality of white pepper is required to be upgraded for higher earnings. Even though white pepper is superior to black pepper in terms of prot, Indian farmers are reluctant to resort to white pepper production because of the nonavailability of a convenient and easy method. Owing to the rapid global demand of white pepper, considerable expansion in the production of white pepper is the need of the hour. So a power-operated black pepper decorticator (Malappuram, Kerala state, India) for producing white pepper from black pepper was developed, tested and its performance evaluated. The quality of the white pepper in terms of volatile oil, volatile components, piperine and oleoresin was also studied.

PRODUCING WHITE PEPPER FROM BLACK PEPPER

MATERIALS AND METHODS Pepper (Panniyur-1 variety) harvested in December 2006January 2007, procured from a local trade center was used as the test (control) sample for the study. Pepper soaked in pure H2O at ambient condition for a period of 16 to 18 h was used for the experiments. The principle of the power-operated decorticator was to subject the presoaked berries to compression and shearing between two abrasive surfaces, one stationary and the other rotating. The compressive forces crushed the skin of the berries and the shear forces separated the skin. The centrifugal and gravitational forces threw the berries to the periphery of the rotating grinding surface. The nylon brushes xed along the periphery of the upper grinding surface gave a brushing action. A water jet enhanced the separation of berries. The berries and the skin moved out to the discharge outlet along with water through an opening provided on the collecting tray. Grinding Surfaces The machine consists of two circular grinding discs of 300-mm diameter and 16-mm thickness, which were the main functional parts of the machine. The bottom disc was coupled to the main shaft through a tapered roller bearing. The top disc is spring-loaded vertically, which facilitates the clearance between the two grinding surfaces according to the varying size of the berries. The different combinations of surfaces required to abrade the surface of black pepper were prepared by changing the surface characteristics of the two grinding surfaces as given below. Treatments I II III IV Top grinding surface Knurled MS surface Rexin-lined MS plate Teon-lined MS plate Polyurethane-lined MS plate Bottom grinding surface Knurled MS surface Rexin-lined MS plate Teon-lined MS plate Emery surface (coarse grade)

Around the circular surface, nylon brushes are provided in series with alternate two and three bunches.

CYLINDRICAL COLLECTING TRAY AND OUTLET ARRANGEMENT The grinding surface is surrounded by a cylindrical collecting tray at a 9-degree angle to the horizontal plane, which is made of 16-gauge mild

G. CHITHRA, S.M. MATHEW and C. DEEPTHI

FIG. 1. BLACK PEPPER DECORTICATOR (1) Feed Hopper (dimensions: top 12 5 cm; bottom - 9 2 cm, height - 10 cm) (2) Rotating grinding surface (f, 30 cm) (3) Outlet arrangement (f, 3.81 cm) (4) Stationary grinding surface (f, 30 cm) (5) Shaft (33.5 cm length) (6) Motor (0.5 hp)

steel (MS) sheet. The pepper berries get discharged from the grinding surfaces through an outlet because of centrifugal and gravitational forces. A ball valve is welded on the side of the rectangular frame to control the ow of water. Main Shaft A vertical main shaft is connected to the output shaft of a reduction gear unit that has a gear ratio of 5:1 through a anged coupling. This gear unit is coupled to a single-phase motor of 0.5 hp and rated speed of 1,440 rpm through a belt and pulley system. The vertical main shaft at its top end carries the revolving grinding surface through a tapered roller thrust bearing (Fig. 1). Experimental Design Details The experiment was conducted in a 2-factor Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with nine treatments and three replications.

PRODUCING WHITE PEPPER FROM BLACK PEPPER

I. Independent factors Levels of factors Soaking time (h) 16, 17, 18 Speed of disc (rpm) 63, 71, 81 II. Dependent Variables Decorticating efciency (%) Mechanical damage (%) Nine treatments are the combination of these levels of factors. The performance of the pepper decorticator was evaluated at various speeds, soaking times and grinding surfaces with a constant feed rate. Decorticating Efciency Decorticating efciency is dened as the ratio of the weight of decorticated berries to the total weight of whole berries fed to the system. It was calculated by

W W1 d = 0 100 W0

(1)

where, W0 is the weight of berries fed to the machine, g; and W1 is the weight of undecorticated and broken berries after decortication. Mechanical Damage Mechanical damage is dened as the ratio of the weight of the broken to the total berries fed to the machine.

Mechanical damage (%) =

Weight of broken 100 Weight of feed

(2)

The quality of the white pepper was assessed by measuring the percentage of volatile oil, oleoresin, piperine content, moisture content and also by the gas chromatographic analysis of volatile components. Results and Discussion The performance of the developed decorticator was evaluated with four different grinding surfaces. The decorticating efciency and mechanical damage were computed for different disc speeds and soaking times, and these parameters were analyzed and the results were presented in Table 1. The maximum decorticating efciency of 69.52% was observed using a grinding

G. CHITHRA, S.M. MATHEW and C. DEEPTHI

TABLE 1. DECORTICATING EFFICIENCY AND MECHANICAL DAMAGE WITH RESPECT TO SPEED AND SOAKING TIME Soaking time (h) Grinding surface MS plate Speed (rpm) 63 71 81 Mean CD (P < 0.05) 63 71 81 Mean CD (P < 0.05) 63 71 81 Mean CD (P < 0.05) 63 71 81 Mean CD (P < 0.05) 16 17 18 Mean 16 17 18 Mean

Decorticating efciency (%) 33.90 35.00 34.63 34.51 ST 3.31 39.70 41.80 37.20 39.57 ST 3.77 30.20 38.50 36.70 35.13 ST 2.06 52.86 58.12 50.09 53.69 ST 1.72 42.00 46.10 42.50 43.53 S NS 41.20 51.30 46.20 46.23 S 3.77 31.70 47.50 43.45 40.88 S 2.06 61.18 69.52 59.77 63.49 S 1.72 36.80 41.60 39.40 39.27 ST S NS 27.80 38.20 29.50 31.83 ST S NS 31.00 46.00 40.95 39.32 ST S 3.57 45.71 54.32 51.15 50.39 ST S 2.98 37.57 40.90 38.84 39.10

Mechanical damage (%) 2.30 7.37 11.74 7.14 ST 2.61 5.14 15.57 18.71 13.14 ST 1.64 5.14 15.57 18.71 13.14 ST 1.26 10.63 12.41 15.63 12.89 ST NS 5.22 16.23 16.97 12.81 S 2.61 12.99 15.95 22.24 17.06 S 1.64 12.99 15.95 22.24 17.06 S 1.26 10.74 12.67 18.71 14.04 S 1.25 8.64 16.12 20.91 15.22 ST S 4.53 14.24 17.99 26.16 19.46 ST S 2.85 14.24 17.43 26.16 19.28 ST S 2.18 11.42 14.28 22.41 16.04 ST S 2.96 5.39 13.24 16.54 11.72

Rexine sheet

36.23 43.77 37.63 39.21

10.79 16.50 22.37 16.55

Teon

30.97 44.00 40.37 38.44

10.79 16.32 22.37 16.49

Grinding stone

53.25 60.65 53.67 55.86

10.93 13.12 18.92 14.32

MS, mild steel; ST, soaking time; S, speed.

stone (Fig. 2) at a speed of 71 rpm and with 17 h soaking time. It was observed that, irrespective of the grinding surface, as soaking time increases, decorticating efciency also increases; and after 17 h soaking time, it decreases. The increase in decorticating efciency with soaking time is attributed to the softening of skin due to soaking. The decrease in decorticating efciency after a certain period is due to the softening of the inner core by excessive soaking leading to an increase in the number of broken berries (Karthiayani and Santhi 2005). A similar trend was also observed in the effect of speed on decorticating efciency. An initial increase in decorticating efciency with respect to speed may be attributed to the softening of the skin due to soaking, and the further decrease in efciency may be due to crushing of berries at higher rpm. A similar result was reported by Anandabose (1996). The mechanical damage

PRODUCING WHITE PEPPER FROM BLACK PEPPER

FIG. 2. WHITE PEPPER USING GRINDING STONE

was found to be signicantly different with respect to soaking time, disc speed, and also with the different combinations of soaking time and speed. From Table 1, it was observed that maximum mechanical damage occurs at higher rpm. This may be attributed to the fact that at higher speeds, the compressive and shearing forces acting on the pepper berries increases, leading to an increase in mechanical damage. As soaking time increases, the damage also increases; this may be due to the softening of the inner core of black pepper by excessive soaking (Karthiayani and Santhi 2005). The capacity of the machine was 1.23 kg/h. Quality of White Pepper The quality of the white pepper produced by using different grinding surfaces with the optimum soaking time and speed are given in Table 2. As a vector of parameters of qualitative trades has to be considered simultaneously for the end product namely white pepper a relative retention efciency index of all the set parameters was worked out as follows. The eight parameters under consideration are volatile oil, oleoresin, piperine, sphericity, a-pinene, limonene, b-caryophyllene and moisture content. All parameters should be as close to the control sample parametric values, except the moisture content, which should be a minimum. So at the rst step, the ratio of the individual parametric values of the produce to the corresponding parametric values of the test sample was computed. The optimum value for

G. CHITHRA, S.M. MATHEW and C. DEEPTHI

TABLE 2. QUALITY ANALYSIS OF WHITE PEPPER PRODUCED BY USING DIFFERENT GRINDING SURFACES Components (%) Test sample Grinding surface Mild steel plate Volatile oil Oleoresin Piperine Sphericity a-pinene Limonene b-caryophyllene Moisture content Relative retention efciency index 2.2 12.5 6.8 0.95 7.03 15.65 23.00 10.0 1.3 10.43 5.59 0.93 5.17 10.38 21.25 21.07 0.4 Rexin sheet 1.3 10.1 5.12 0.94 5.26 9.54 20.95 20.85 0.67 Teon 1.2 11.7 5.36 0.93 5.68 11.25 21.68 21.85 0.99 Grinding stone 1.3 12.34 6.25 0.94 5.91 12.28 22.13 21.19 1.61

this seven ratio will be of one. Therefore, the product of all these ratios should also lead to a value close to unity. Even at this stage, as the moisture content is of extreme importance, the product of the ratio of seven parametric values obtained was divided by the respective moisture content values. The concept is that the lesser the moisture content, the better the product. So a lower moisture content value will denitely boost the product value. Since in all these cases a fraction is obtained for a better comparison between the four computed values, the values were converted to percent by multiplying by 100. The relative retention efciency index values at the best soaking time speed combination of 17 h and 71 rpm for the different grinding surfaces are given in Table 2. It is evident that the grinding stone is the best of all the four grinding media followed by Teon, Rexin sheet and MS plate. These ndings are further justied by the fact that the mechanical damage for the four surfaces was also of the same order. Figure 2 depicts the white pepper prepared by decortication using a grinding stone. The cream-colored outer skin of white pepper has the characteristic striations fractured because of mechanical decortications. Consequently, the brownish oil zone and inner starch layer got exposed. This gave a slight brownish appearance to the product. Compared with the test sample, there is a loss in volatile oil content; this may be due to the removal of the creamy outer layer and the oil zone during decortications and the loss of oil in the soaking water. There is not much change in the case of oleoresin and piperine content compared with the test sample. The moisture content of white pepper immediately after decortication was analyzed. It was observed that there was an increase in the moisture content and it might be due to the

PRODUCING WHITE PEPPER FROM BLACK PEPPER

absorption of moisture by the pepper during soaking prior to decortication. For the statistical analysis on quality parameters, the relative retention efciency index values are given for the four grinding surfaces at their best soaking timespeed combinations. According to statistical analysis, the values for grinding stone, Teon, MS plate and Rexin sheet were 1.61, 0.99, 0.67 and 0.4, respectively. Thus, it is evident that the grinding stone is the best of all the four grinding media followed by Teon, MS Plate and Rexin sheet. These ndings are further justied by the fact that the order of mechanical damage for the four surfaces was also the same.

CONCLUSION A power-operated black pepper decorticator for producing white pepper from black pepper was evaluated by using various grinding surfaces like the MS knurled plate, Rexin sheet, Teon and grinding stone. The quality of the white pepper in terms of volatile oil, volatile components, piperine and oleoresin was also studied. The principle of the power-operated decorticator was to subject the presoaked berries to compression and shearing between two abrasive surfaces, one stationary and the other rotating. The compressive forces crushed the skin of the berries and the shear forces separated the skin. A 2-factor experiment in CRD with disc speed and soaking time as factors was adopted. The quality of white pepper obtained using grinding stone coupled with polyurethane was superior to those obtained by other surfaces used in the experiment. The decorticating efciency was found at a maximum (69.52%) at 71 rpm and 17 h soaking period. The capacity of the developed machine was 1.23 kg/h.

REFERENCES ANANDABOSE, D. 1996. Development and performance evaluation of a black pepper skinner. Unpublished M. Tech. (Agricultural Engineering.) Thesis, Kerala Agricultural University. GOPINATHAN, K.M. and MANILAL, V.B. 2004. Pectinolytic decortication of pepper. J. Food Sci. Tech. 41(1), 7477. GOPINATHAN, K.M. and MANILAL, V.B. 2005. White pepper preparation through bacterial fermentation. Spice India. 18(1), 1018. KARTHIAYANI, A. and SANTHI, M.M. 2005. Development and testing of a black pepper decorticator. Proceedings of National Seminar on Recent Trends and Issues in the Evolution of Appropriate Technologies for

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Integrated Rural Development, Organized by the Faculty of Agriculture and Animal husbandry, Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram, Tamil Nadu, India. LEWIS, Y.S. 1982. Important spices from South East Asia-Cultivation and Technology. Indian Food Packer 36(2), 6368. MATHEW, T. 2007. Making varied products. In The Hindu Survey of Indian Agriculture, pp. 8286, Hindu Daily.