Conduction Roaster for Accelerated Roasting of Peanut

Roasting is one of the thermo-mechanical operation in cereals and oilseeds processing. Low-capacity machine for mechanisation of roasting is necessary for small-scale processing. A conduction-type motorised rotary roaster (8 kg per batch) was designed and developed for roasting of peanuts. Performance of the roaster was evaluated in terms of moisture loss, scorched kernels, and specific energy consumption for accelerated roasting of peanut. The effects of different roasting conditions were studied to determine the optimum operating conditions of the roaster. Quality indices of peanuts as moisture loss (kg.kg-1), scorched kernel (%), and specific energy consumption (kWh.kg-1) were dependent on the operating conditions. The optimum value of moisture loss (0.041± 0.003 kg.kg-1), scorched kernel (0.93± 0.0.004 % ), and specific energy consumption (0.185 ± 0.005 kWh.kg-1) were obtained at roasting temperature of 170°C, roasting time of 15 min, and rotational speed of 20 rpm for roasting peanut. The roasting characteristics of peanut decreased linearly with increase in the temperature and time; and decrease in the rotational speed. The inferior quality parameters were observed at higher temperatures, speed and medium time of roasting. The study indicated optimum roasting temperature of peanut to be 170°C, and further increase in the process temperature had undesirable effects on roasted peanut quality due to high loss of moisture.