Threshing of pepper

• Threshing is done by manual trampling,

which involves either a man / woman labour.
• A labourer will be able to trample about 200
kg of spikes and separate the berries in a
day. The empty spikes are disposed to the
compost pit and used as manure.
• This method of threshing involved drudgery
to the labourers and more damage to the
berries
Manual threshing of pepper

Consolidation of spikes
 Mechanical thresher
• consists of a metallic drum provided with rasp bars, concave,
oscillating sieve, power source and power drive.
• On the periphery of the drum, 8 numbers of rasp bars made of wood
of size 30 mm x 15 mm are mounted and lined with 1.5 mm thick
rubber sheet.
• The drum is placed inside a concave of diameter 370 mm made of
mild steel with an opening at the centre for 12 mm width. The cover
of the concave is made to half round and the hopper is fitted to the
cover.
• The oscillating unit is made to a size of 400 mm x 600 mm and
provided with an eccentric of 5 mm and receives the power from a
one hp electric motor and oscillates at a speed of 90 strokes /
minute.
• The power to the drum is also transmitted through V pulley
arrangement.
• An increase in the speed also increased the efficiency of threshing.
• The percentage of broken berries was negligible and the threshing
efficiency was above 95% at 300 rpm of drum speed.
• The thresher is operated by a single phase 2 hp motor.
Salient features

• Suitable for threshing black

pepper from the pepper vine
• Operated by a 2 hp electric
motor/ suitable power drive
• Cost of the thresher :
Rs.20,000
• Cost of operation: Rs.125
per tonne of pepper
• Efficiency of the thresher is
95%
• Capacity of the thresher is
320 kg/hour
 Hand operated pepper thresher

 Consists of a metallic drum provided with rasp

bars, concave, power drive with a handle and
a sieve for separating the empty spikes
Through the handle provided, the unit is
operated
 The unit has provision to adjust the clearance
between the rotor and the concave to
minimize damage to the berries
The empty spikes need to be fed second time
for threshing depending on the berries
present in the vines.
Hand operated pepper thresher
• Cost of the unit :Rs.4,500/-
• Cost of operation
:Rs.175/tonne of pepper
• Salient features :
• Capacity :60 kg/h
• Suitable for threshing black
pepper from the pepper vine.
• Manually operated.
• Efficiency : 96%.
• Suitable for small and
marginal holdings.
 Drying of Pepper
• Freshly harvested berries contain moisture of above 70%
(w.b.)
• Berries after separation from spikes are spread out on
mats for drying
• Due to oxidation of colour-less compounds present in the
skin, the colour of pepper turns black and masks the
green colour
• Sun drying is the major post harvest processing step
• The process is simple, many factors affect the quality of
the end product
• The foremost is the correct stage of maturity – to get
higher return of good colour, aroma & pungency
• Another important aspect of sun drying –Necessity to turn
over material periodically to facilitate uniform drying
• Mould contamination may result in a poorly dried product
without turning
Sun drying of pepper
 CFTRI method of drying

• CFTRI has developed a improved method of sun

drying
• Separating berries from spikes, cleaning well by
winnowing
• Dipping of green berries in a basket in a boiling
water for 1 min and then drained.
• Berries turn black colour rapidly and uniformly
and accelerate rate of drying
• Blanching also minimizes microbial contamination
and yields a hygienic product
 Mechanical drying
• Moisture in partially sun dried black pepper is brought
down from 25% to 10% in 2 stages in a counter current
hot air flow system
• Pepper is introduced at the top and the hot air is
introduced at the bottom
• Surface of pepper berries dries fast, but bound moisture
requires more time to diffuse out to the surface
• After one pass in dryer, pepper is stored for 24-28 hours,
after which it is dried again to 10% moisture
• Complete artificial drying of spices will be costly
• Partially in mechanical drier up to certain moisture level
followed by sun drying is also possible – eliminate the
problem of mould growth on raw spice during prolonged
sun drying
 Drying of Cardamom
• Cardamom capsules should be subjected to
drying within 24-36 hours of harvest to avoid
deterioration
• Drying is one of the important unit operations as
it determines the colour of the end product
• Retention of green colour is important in
cardamom drying as green coloured cardamom
fetches premium price
• The capsules should have minimum shrinkage
and splitting
• Drying air temperature and RH are the important
factors to be controlled
• Natural drying
– It is not possible to obtain very good green colour
– Requires 5-6 days or more depending upon the solar
intensity
– Cloudy atmosphere and frequent rains are the major
problems

• Artificial drying
– Conventional kiln drying
– Electrical drying
 Kiln drying
• Conventionally, the cardamom capsules are dried in kiln driers
• Consists of wood burnt furnace, heat exchanger pipe and drying
racks in a chamber
• Hot flue gases escaped through chimney after circulating through 9-
12’’ dia flue pipe made of MS placed in the centre of the room
• Heat energy is transferred by radiation from hot surface of the flue
pipe
• Racks are kept at 12’’ distance from the flue pipe to avoid over
heating
• Drying trays of 1mx1m each containing 3 to 4 kg of fresh cardamom
are arranged on the racks
• Roofing of the chamber is insulated from inside with wooden planks
• Drying air temperature is maintained at 45 to 55°C
• Exhaust fans are provided to flush out moisture laden air
• The whole process takes about 36-48 h
• Kilns have very low thermal efficiency ie 15-20%
INNER VIEW OF KILN
Kiln drier
 Garbling

• Process of removal of flower stalks from

the dried cardamom
• Achieved by rubbing against coir mat or
wire mesh and winnowed to remove any
foreign matter
• Power operated garbling drum is also
used in the plantations
• Garbling unit with wire mesh is popular in
cardamom plantations
 Cleaning and grading

• Combination of air classification and

vibratory conveying using inclined decks is
very efficient for destoning of spices
• 3-5 kg of dried cardamom per batch put in
the wire mesh where during swinging, the
rubbing action between the capsules and
wire mesh and within the capsules, the
flower stalks are separated
• Grading of dried capsules as per AGMARK
specifications using round sieves is done
• Mostly 7mm round holes sieves are used for
grading
 Cleaner cum grader for cardamom
• To achieve grading of cardamom into three grades and separation of smaller
and larger size impurities, a rotary screen cleaner-cum-grader has been
developed

• Hand operated rotary type cleaner cum grader was developed to clean and
grade the pepper according to the AGMARK specifications.
•
• Consists of a rotor and it has been divided into three segments of each 450
mm with provision to place any sieves

• Outlets below each sieve have been provided.

• Spiral is provided inside the rotor for easy conveying of the feed materials to the
sieve perforations

• Shaft is provided to mount the rotor on two bearings and rotate with a handle.

• A feed hopper to hold about 15 kg of pepper has been provided at the feed inlet
end with appropriate side slopes for easy feeding of the feed into the sieves.
 Contd…

• Four inclined outlets are provided for the collection of impurities

and cleaned products.
• A semi circular cover was provided above the sieve assembly to
avoid spilling of the material when the sieve assembly was
rotated.
• The operation speed range is 15 to 25 rpm
• Higher effectiveness of 0.89 grading capacity of 150 kg/hour is
possible for cardamom

• Advantages
– Can be made to suit any crop by changing the sieves.
– This unit can be operated with out dependency on electricity
Overall view of the hand-operated rotary type cleaner-cum-
grader for cardamom
 Drying of chilli
• Traditional method of chilli-Mud floor, roof top, cement floor
• Transported to the drying yard in gunny bags/poly woven bags
• Cultivation land is used as drying yard
• Chilli fruits are spread on the well levelled drying floor @ 3-5 kg
of fruits per square foot
• Bed thickness varies form 7.5 cm-12.5 cm depending upon the
moisture content of the fruits
• Left undisturbed for 3 days and manually turned by stirring
• By this, the bottom layer of chilli comes to top layer and helps in
faster and uniform drying
• Manual turning is done once in 5 to 7 days till the produce is
completely dried and removed from the drying yard
 Sorting, heaping and packaging

• Discoloured, spoiled and other damaged ones are

manually sorted based on the eye judgement and
experience
• Works out to about 20-25% of the final produce
• Dried chilli are collected from drying yard in polywoven
bags and transported to the packing yard and heaped
• Compaction is done to accommodate more quantity in
less space
• To prevent absorption of moisture from the atmosphere,
the heap is fully covered with polythene sheets till
packed in bags
• Well dried chilli pods are packed in gunny bags for
transporting to the market
 Cold storage
• To maintain the quality and preserve the colour of dried
chilli packed in gunny bags is stored under cold storage
• Normally stored during February to December
• Storage is done at a temperature of 4-6°C and the RH
ranges form 60-80%
• Cold storages are normally with 4-6 floors and
evaporators are placed in each floor for uniform
distribution of temperature
• Bottom of the floor is made of wooden planks
• Walls and roof of the cold storage are constructed with
brick and concrete
• Latest ones are constructed with polyurethane foam
lined with metal sheet with improved insulation
 Types of post harvest losses in chilli

Loss Reason Preservation

Discolouration Prolonged sun drying Mechanical drying

Harvesting immature Harvesting mature
pods pods
Mould growth Improper drying or Proper drying
poor storage Proper storage
conditions
Loss of seed due to Physical injury Gentle handling
loose stem or pod Improper packaging Careful packaging
borer
Wrinkling of pods Prolonged sun drying Mechanical drying
Over drying Optimum drying
Delayed picking/ over Timely picking
ripening on plant
 Chilli Seed Extractor

• Seed from the dried chillies are extracted

and used for crop propagation
• Highly time consuming and costly besides
involving drudgery
• Chilli seed extractor has been developed
to overcome the drudgery due to the
pungent nature of the chillies and increase
the productivity in the seed processing
industries
 Description
• It consists of feed hopper, beater assembly, concave with cover, stand
and an electric motor
• The cover is hinged to one edge of the concave assembly for easy
opening and closing
• The shaft is placed inside the concave at the centre and mounted on
bearing at both the ends
• Beaters of 6mm thickness with 75mm length and 20 mm width
numbering 40 are fixed on the periphery of the shaft
• Fixed at 90° at predetermined interval in a helical fashion in order to
enable forward movement of the material as the seed get extracted by
beating action
• Powered by a 0.5 HP electric motor
• Power from the motor is transmitted through a belt to the beater which
rotates at 700 rpm
• Dried chilli fed through the feed hopper are subjected to the beating
action by the beaters and macerated into pieces without cell rupture and
thereby seeds are separated from the fruits
• Seeds and hulls/pulp are conveyed and discharged through the outlet
• Seed is then separated from the hulls manually
 Salient features
• Capacity of the unit is 50 kg/h
• Cost of the unit is Rs.10000
• Seed quality is not affected
• Pulp can be used for culinary purpose
• Cost of operation is Rs.15/kg of seed
• Seed extraction efficiency is 96%
Chilli Seed Extractor
 Turmeric processing
• Harvesting
• Collection
• Washing
• Boiling
• Drying
• Polishing
• Pulverization
• Packaging
• Storage
 Harvesting & Washing

• Turmeric becomes ready for harvest in 7-9

months depending upon the variety
• Harvesting after proper maturity results in
the highest yield of cured turmeric
• Determination of the optimum time for
harvesting of turmeric is necessary for
each region since it may vary in different
regions and agroclimates
 Contd..
• Usually the land is ploughed and the rhizomes
are gathered by hand picking
• Turmeric diggers both power tiller operated and
tractor operated for harvesting of rhizomes have
been developed
• Reduces cost of digging and saves time
• The rhizomes are cleared of adhering soil by
washing and further cleaned of roots
 Processing

 Boiled with cow dung solution

(or)

Na H CO3 (Bleaching Powder)

 Recovery of dry rhizomes – 20% approximately

 Boiling
• Important unit operation in the processing of
turmeric
• Fingers are separated from mother rhizomes,
which are kept as seed materials
• Green turmeric is cured for obtaining dry
turmeric for marketing
• Boling of rhizomes reduces the time of drying
• Ensures an even distribution of colour in the
rhizomes
• Gives a better quality product by gelatinization of
starch
 Boiling
• Boiled in copper vessels or galvanized iron with
sufficient water to soak them
• If water is acidic, sodium bi carbonate is added to
make it slightly alkaline
• Rhizomes would be soft when pressed between
fingers when properly cooked
• Boiling is stopped when froth starts coming out
and while fumes appear giving out a
characteristic odour
• Boiling takes 40-60 minutes
 Turmeric boiler
• Consists of a trough, outer drum, inner perforated drums
and lid
• 4 nos. of inner drum are provided in the outer drum
• Outer drum can be made to any size to suit the
requirement of the farmer with any capacity
• Lid is provided with hooks for easy lifting
• Inspection door is provided for checking of completion of
boiling
• Outer drum is placed in a pit, serves as a furnace
• Furnace is provided with two openings
• Water is filled in the outer drum for about 6-8 cm depth
• About 50-60 kg of well washed rhizome is taken in each
inner drum
• Boiling is done using the agricultural waste materials,
mostly the dried turmeric leaves as fuel
• Takes about 25 min to produce steam and boil the
rhizomes
Conventional & Modern Boiling
 Salient features
• Capacity of the boiler is 200-300 kg per
batch and 4-5 tonnes per day of 8h
• Cost of the unit is Rs.7000
• Cost of boiling is Rs.10/quintal
• Fuel requiremnt is 70-75 kg of agricultural
wastes
 Comparative study of improved turmeric boiler with
conventional method
Details TNAU Improved Conventional
method method
Capacity, kg 4 x 60 2 x 100
Size of box, mm 1200 x 1200 x450 900x 600 x 400
Weight of the container, kg 10 15.5
Water required for boiling, litres 60 30 x 2
Water used, litres 15 60
Time taken for boiling, minutes 15 35
Fuel required, kg per batch 25-30 40
Gross weight handled after boiling 90 145
Moisture content, % w.b before 72 72
boiling
Moisture content, % w.b after 80 84
boiling
Savings in time 50% -
Savings in fuel 300% -