Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

The specic heat of pistachio nuts as aected by moisture

content, temperature, and variety
Seyed M.A. Razavi *, Masoud Taghizadeh
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Ferdowsi, Azadi Square, Mashad P.O. Box 91775-1163, Iran
Received 7 August 2005; accepted 16 January 2006
Available online 15 March 2006

Abstract
The specic heat of Iranian pistachio nuts was measured as a function of variety (Ohadi, Momtaz, Sed, and Kalle-Ghochi), moisture
content (initial moisture content, 25%, 15% and 5% w.b.), and temperature (25, 40, 55 and 70 C). Specic heat was found to be significant dependent of the variables studied. The specic heat of each cultivar increased with increase in moisture content and temperature in
the range of 0.4192.930 kJ/kg K, however, the eect of moisture content was greater than both variety and temperature. Regression
models with high R2 values were developed to predict the specic heat of pistachio varieties as a function of moisture content and temperature individually, and both moisture content and temperature.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Pistachio cultivar; Thermal property; The method of mixtures; Calorimeter; Modeling

1. Introduction
The pistachio is mainly produced in Iran, USA, and
Turkey. The pistachio nut is the second non-petroleum
export product, which has the important role in the development of national economic value and agro-food industry
of Iran. Based on FAO statistics (Food and Agriculture
Organization, 2005), Iran produced about 275,000 Mt of
pistachio in 2003, which was approximately 54.7% of the
worlds pistachio production. Iran exported 184,946 Mt
of its pistachio nut in this year and the total export revenue
from pistachio was about 679,940,000 US$ in 2003. Proper
harvesting, handling, and processing are the key operations, which determine the nal quality and marketability
of pistachio. The thermal properties of agricultural materials especially specic heat as a function of process conditions and physico-chemical properties of dierent
products such as pistachio are necessary for design of a

Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 511 8795618; fax: +98 511 8787430.
E-mail address: S.Razavi@UM.ac.Ir (S.M.A. Razavi).

0260-8774/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2006.01.039

new unit operation or analysis of present process e.g. drying and storage. The previous ndings clearly show that
temperature and moisture content greatly inuence on
the thermal properties of agricultural and food materials.
Tabil (1999) described the dierent methods for measuring of specic heat and reviewed comprehensively the published results for food/agricultural materials. Generally, the
method of mixtures was used by many researchers for the
determination of specic heat of various products. Singh
and Goswami (2000) studied the specic heat of cumin seed
and found that the specic heat values increased from 1.330
to 3090 kJ kg1 K1 with increase in temperature from
70 to 50 C and moisture content from 1.8% to 20.5%
dry basis. Aviara and Haque (2001) determined the specic
heat of sheanut kernel as a function of moisture content
and temperature and reported that both moisture and temperature dependent in the range of 3.3220.70% (d.b.) and
303363 K, respectively. Subramanian and Viswanathan
(2003) measured the specic heat of minor millet grains
and ours in the moisture content range of 1030% and
the values ranged from 1.33 to 2.40 kJ kg1 K1. To
knowledge of the authors, no research work has been done

S.M.A. Razavi, M. Taghizadeh / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

159

Nomenclature
Cp
Cw
d.b.
H
M
Mc
Mt
T
w.b.

specic heat of pistachio nut (kJ/kg C)

specic heat of water (1 cal/g C)
dry basis
heat capacity (cal/C)
mass (g)
moisture content (% wet basis)
metric ton
temperature (C)
wet basis

on the specic heat of pistachio, with the exception of Hsu,

Mannapperuma, and Singh (1991) work that had been
studied the physical and thermal properties of Kerman cultivar of pistachio. They investigated only the moisture
dependent thermal properties (specic heat and thermal
conductivity) of this variety. Therefore, the objectives of
this study were: (1) to determine the specic heat of four
Iranian pistachio varieties, (2) to analyze the eect of moisture content, temperature, and variety on the specic heat
of pistachio and (3) to develop the mathematical models
for prediction of specic heat value as a function of moisture content and temperature for each pistachio cultivar.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Sample preparation
Ohadi, Momtaz, Sed and Kalle-Ghochi are
the major pistachio nut cultivars grown in Iran, therefore
these varieties were selected in this research. Freshly harvested pistachio varieties were purchased from local farms
at Feizabad city of Khorasan province, Iran. Pistachios
were then subjected to dehulling, trash and blank separation, unpeeled and unripe pistachios separation, washing,
and sorting (to separate split nuts from non-split ones).
To obtain samples with lower moisture content, a known
mass of each pistachio variety was dried by oven
equipped to a ventilator at temperature of 70 C. Finally,
the samples were kept at 10 C in a freezer until starting
the experiments.

Subscripts
c
test capsule
cw
cold distilled water
e
equilibrium condition of mixture
f
ask calorimeter
hw
hot distilled water
m
pistachio sample

and Sed varieties used in this investigation had an initial

moisture content of 44.39%, 37.46%, 33.86%, and 33.46%
(w.b.), respectively.
2.3. Experimental plan
All experiments in this study were repeated three times
at four levels of moisture content (initial moisture content
of pistachio nut, 25%, 15% and 5% w.b.) and four temperature levels (25, 40, 55 and 70 C) for four pistachio cultivars and the average values are reported. The individual
and combined eects of variables (variety, moisture content, and temperature) on specic heat of pistachio nut
were analyzed based on the three factor completely randomized design (4 4 4 3) following the analysis of variance (ANOVA) method at 1% signicant level using
MSTATC statistical software program, version 1.4 (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI). The best relationships between moisture content, temperature, and specic
heat of each pistachio nut variety were determined using
linear and non-linear stepwise regression analysis of Sigmastat software program, version 1.0 (MicroHelp Inc., and
Heliersoftware GmbH). Coecient of determination (R2),
residual mean square (MSE), residual plotting, and the
mean relative percent error (e) were used to evaluate the tting of a model to experimental data. The best model was
chosen as the one with the highest coecient of determination and the least residual mean square and the mean relative percent error (Johnson & Tsui, 1998).
2.4. Specic heat determination

2.2. Moisture content determination

Moisture content of pistachio kernels was determined by
oven method (Kamangar & Farsam, 1977). About 35 g
sample were ground and dried in a hot air oven at
103 2 C for about 3 h until the dierences between
two weighing was slight (0.05 g). Amount of moisture
evaporated was calculated and moisture content (MC)
was expressed as % w.b. (wet basis). The method described
above was adopted for all MC determinations using three
replicates to get an average value of MC for any sample.
The pistachio kernel of Kalle-Ghochi, Momtaz, Ohadi,

The method of mixtures has been the most common

technique reported in the literature for measuring the specic heat of agricultural/food materials (Mohsenin, 1980;
Singh & Goswami, 2000; Subramanian & Viswanathan,
2003; Tabil, 1999). In this technique, certain assumptions
were required as (1) there was no heat loss from the capsule
containing the material, during transfer from the hot air
oven to the calorimeter, (2) the capsule and the pistachio
nuts attained uniform temperature throughout the mass
at the end of heating, (3) there was no evaporation loss
in the calorimeter during equilibration period, and (4) the

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S.M.A. Razavi, M. Taghizadeh / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

heat capacities of the calorimeter and the capsule remained

constant within the range of temperature studied.

dropped into distilled water contained in the ask calorimeter at room temperature. Considering the heat balance
during the process, the specic heat of pistachio kernel as
calculated using the following heat balance equation
(Shrivastava & Datta, 1999):

2.4.1. Determination of heat capacity of ask calorimeter

Since the calorimeter used (ordinary vacuum thermoask of 250 ml capacity) was a composite of glass, metal
and insulating material, it was easier to determine the heat
capacity of the calorimeter experimentally, rather than
determining the mass and specic heat of each material
separately and combining them. This method consisted of
determining the temperature change of distilled water contained in the ask calorimeter at a higher temperature,
when a known quantity of distilled water at a known lower
temperature was added to it. The system was assumed to be
adiabatic. Therefore, the heat capacity of the ask calorimeter was given by Shrivastava and Datta (1999):
Hf

M cw C w T e  T cw  M hw C w T hw  T e
T hw  T e

Cp

3
3. Results and discussion
3.1. The eect of moisture content
The variation of specic heat of pistachio cultivars with
moisture content are shown in Figs. 14. It can be seen that
the specic heat increased greatly with increase in moisture
content for each variety. It seems that the rate of increase
in Cp values were more rapid at lower moisture contents
than higher values. Totally, the specic heat of pistachios
increased from 0.051 to 0.084 kJ/kg K for increasing 1%
in moisture content. The analysis of variance (ANOVA)
performed to obtain a better understanding of the eect
of variables (variety, V; moisture content, Mc and temperature, T) on the specic heat of pistachio nut. The results of
analysis showed that specic heat was high signicantly
inuenced (P < 0.001) by moisture content of pistachio
(Table 1), but its variation with pistachio cultivar was signicant at 1% level.
The results of this research also showed that the specic
heat value of Kalle-Ghochi, Momtaz, Ohadi and Sed
pistachio cultivars at their initial moisture content and
25 C were obtained 2.527, 2.707, 2.567 and 2.536 kJ/kg K,
respectively. It can be found that the minimum and maximum values of pistachio specic heat were related to

2.4.2. Determination of heat capacity of test capsule

The heat capacity of cylindrical copper test capsule
(52.64 mm height, 15.24 mm internal diameter, and 2.12
mm wall thickness) was also determined experimentally.
This consisted of determining the temperature change of
water contained in the calorimeter when the empty capsule
at higher temperature was added to it. The heat capacity of
test capsule was given by Shrivastava and Datta (1999):
Hc

H f M cw C w T e  T cw
T c  T e

H f M cw C w T e  T cw  H c T m  T e
 4:1868
M m T m  T e

2.4.3. Determination of specic heat of pistachio nuts

After maintaining the higher uniform desired temperature, the test capsule containing pistachio kernels was

Ohadi

Log. (Ohadi)

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

%M.C. (w.b.)

Fig. 1. Variation in specic heat of Ohadi pistachio variety with moisture content.

40

S.M.A. Razavi, M. Taghizadeh / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

Momtaz

161

Log. (Momtaz)

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

%M.C. (w.b.)

Fig. 2. Variation in specic heat of Momtaz pistachio variety with moisture content.

Sefid

Log. (Sefid)

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

%M.C. (w.b.)

Fig. 3. Variation in specic heat of Sed pistachio variety with moisture content.

Kalle-Ghochi and Momtaz cultivars, although the dierences between these values were slight.
The relationship between the specic heat and moisture
content for each variety can be expressed by the following
regression equations:
Ohadi: C p 0:9310 lnM c  0:7748 R2 0:992
4
R2 0:974

Momtaz: C p 0:9031 lnM c  0:4438

Sefid: C p 0:9020 lnM c  0:6108

R 0:998

Kalle-Ghochi: C p 0:7725 lnM c  0:0909

5
6

R 0:972
7

From these, it could be said that the Cp of pistachio cultivars show non-linear relationship with moisture content in
the range of 544.39% (w.b.).
Hsu et al. (1991) reported the existence of a linear
relationship of specic heat with moisture content for the
Kerman variety. They showed that the values of specic
heat varied from 1.1 to 2.1 kJ/kg K at room temperature
in the range of moisture content 7.539% w.b. Chandrasekar and Viswanathan (1999) studied the thermal properties
of Arabica and Robusta coee beans in the moisture range
of 9.930.6% w.b. and showed that specic heat increased
linearly in the range of 0.782.36 kJ/kg K with increasing

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S.M.A. Razavi, M. Taghizadeh / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

Kalle-Ghochi

Log. (Kalle-Ghochi)

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

%M.C. (w.b.)

Fig. 4. Variation in specic heat of Kalle-Ghochi pistachio variety with moisture content.

Table 1
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the eect of variety, moisture content, and temperature on specic heat of pistachio nut
Source of variation

Degrees of freedom

Variety (V)
Temperature (T)
Moisture (Mc)
TV
V Mc
T Mc
V T Mc
Error
Total
n.s.: Not signicant.

***,**

Sum of squares

3
3
3
9
9
9
27
128

2.842
3.134
82.922
0.265
1.364
1.333
1.683
5.741

191

99.284

Mean square
0.947
1.045
27.641
0.029
0.152
0.148
0.062
0.045

F-value

Probability

21.1183***

0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0010
0.0010
0.0012
0.1152

23.2878***
616.2398***
0.6563n.s.
3.3786**
3.3021**
1.3901n.s.

signicant levels at 0.1%, 1%, respectively.

moisture content for both the varieties. Subramanian and

Viswanathan (2003) also observed an increase in specic
heat of minor millet grains and ours in the range of
1.332.40 kJ/kg K with an increase in moisture content in
the range of 1030%. As it can be found that most previous
ndings supported the linear increasing in specic heat
with moisture content, but some research workers reported
non-linear behavior such as Kazarian and Hall (1965) for
grains, Murata, Tagawa, and Ishibashi (1987) for cereal
grains, and Datta, Nema, and Bhardwaj (1988) for gram.
3.2. The eect of temperature
The specic heats of four pistachio varieties at various
temperatures are presented in Figs. 58. The results showed
that specic heat value as a function of temperature varied
in the range of 1.9972.440 kJ/kg K. It can be observed
that specic heat of various varieties increased slightly with
increasing temperature from 25 to 70 C, so that the Cp of
pistachios increased from 0.044 to 0.054 kJ/kg K for
increasing 1 C in temperature. The result of analysis of

variance also showed that the specic heat was signicantly

inuenced (P < 0.01) by temperature in addition to moisture content of pistachio (Table 1).
The results of this paper are in agreement with the ndings of other research workers. Radhakrishnan (1997)
determined the specic heat of dierent seafood in temperature range of 530 C and reported specic heat values
in the range of 3.13.8 kJ/kg K. Ngadi, Mallikarjunan,
Chinnan, Radhakrishnan, and Hung (2000) measured the
specic heat of fried shrimps, French toast, and breading
materials within a wide temperature range of 20130 C
and found positive relationship between specic heat and
temperature.
Empirical equations were developed to describe the
eect of temperature on specic heat of four pistachio
nut varieties. Eqs. (8)(11) gave the linear relationship
between specic heat and temperature for each variety.
Ohadi: C p 0:0095T 1:3493
Momtaz: C p 0:0068T 1:7300

R2 0:987
2

R 0:999

8
9

S.M.A. Razavi, M. Taghizadeh / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

Ohadi

163

Linear (Ohadi)

2.5

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

2.3

2.1

1.9

1.7

1.5
20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Temperature (C)

Fig. 5. The eect of temperature on specic heat of pistachio nut (Ohadi variety).

Momtaz

Linear (Momtaz)

2.5

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

2.3

2.1

1.9

1.7

1.5
20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Temperature (C)

Fig. 6. The eect of temperature on specic heat of pistachio nut (Momtaz variety).

Sefid: C p 0:0067T 1:5610

R2 0:992

Kalle-Ghochi: C p 0:0075T 1:7022

10

R 0:985
11

3.3. The eects of moisture content and temperature

The eects of moisture content and temperature on specic heat of four pistachio varieties are shown in Figs. 912
through response surface diagrams. It is seen that the Cp of
pistachios varied from 0.419 to 2.930 kJ/kg K for the

experimental range of variables studied. It can be also

found that the specic heat values increased with increase
in moisture content and temperature of pistachios. The
nature of response surfaces showed that the eect of moisture variation on Cp was more signicant than temperature. The results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) in
Table 1 also conrmed this inference.
Njie, Rumsey, and Singh (1998) measured the Cp of
Cassava, Yam, and Plantain as a function of moisture
content and temperature. Almost in all cases, there was a
similarity in the specic heat values of three crops and

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S.M.A. Razavi, M. Taghizadeh / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

Sefid

Linear (Sefid)

2.5

Specific Heat ( kJ/kg.K)

2.3

2.1

1.9

1.7

1.5
20

30

40

50
Temperature (C)

60

70

80

Fig. 7. The eect of temperature on specic heat of pistachio nut (Sed variety).

Kalle-Ghochi

Linear (Kalle-Ghochi)

2.5

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

2.3

2.1

1.9

1.7

1.5

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Temperature (C)

Fig. 8. The eect of temperature on specic heat of pistachio nut (Kalle-Qhochi variety).

for each crop, and the Cp increased with increasing both

moisture and temperature. Shrivastava and Datta (1999)
also indicated the similar results for mushrooms, but they
found that the moisture content in compared with the temperature had a highly signicant eect on specic heat.
Singh and Goswami (2000) evaluated the specic heat of
cumin seed at various temperature (70 to 50 C) and
moisture content (1.820.5% d.b.) levels. Specic heat
was found to be both moisture and temperature dependent
and increased from 1.330 to 3.090 kJ/kg K with increase in
temperature and moisture content. Aviara and Haque
(2001) investigated the eect of variation of moisture content (3.3220.70% d.b.) and temperature (303363 K) on

thermal properties of sheanut kernel and found that the

specic heat values increased linearly with moisture content
and temperature in the range of 1.7923.172 kJ/kg K.
Using Sigmastat software, a multiple regression model
with specic heat for each pistachio variety as a function
of temperature and moisture content was tted to the
experimental data. This yielded the following equations:
Ohadi: C p 0:00947T 0:93040 lnM c  1:22357
R2 0:904

12

Momtaz: C p 0:00609T 0:16265M c  0:00266M c

 0:07293 R2 0:894

13

S.M.A. Razavi, M. Taghizadeh / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

165

4.00

3.50

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
45.00

0.00

35.00
70.00

25.00

55.00
Tem
per
atu

40.00
re (
C)

25.00

b.

w.

15.00

(%

5.00

Fig. 9. Variation of specic heat of pistachio nut of Ohadi variety as a function of moisture content and temperature.

4.00

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
45.00

0.00

35.00
70.00

25.00

55.00

Tem

per

40.00

atu

re (
C)

25.00

5.00

b.

w.

15.00

(%

Fig. 10. Variation of specic heat of pistachio nut of Momtaz variety as a function of moisture content and temperature.

Sefid: C p 0:00680T 0:13722M c  0:00205M c

 0:11279 R2 0:979

14

Kalle-Ghochi: C p 0:01286T 0:11758M c  0:00164M c 2

 0:13005 R2 0:917

15

The relationships were observed to be a second-order polynomial for all variety except for Ohadi, which followed the
rst-order polynomial. Since the prediction equations were
non-linear, the behaviors of response surface in Figs. 36
are also not at.
Singh and Goswami (2000) observed a second-order
polynomial relationship of specic heat of cumin seed with

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S.M.A. Razavi, M. Taghizadeh / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

4.00

3.50

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
45.00

0.00
35.00
70.00

25.00

55.00

Tem

per

atu

re (
C)

40.00

b.

w.

15.00

(%

M
25.00

5.00

Fig. 11. Variation of specic heat of pistachio nut of Sed variety as a function of moisture content and temperature.

4.00

3.50

Specific Heat (kJ/kg.K)

3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50

45

0.00

35

70
Tem

55
atu
re (
C)

per

25
15

40

b.

w.

(%

25

Fig. 12. Variation of specic heat of pistachio nut of Kalle-Qhochi variety as a function of moisture content and temperature.

temperature and moisture content in the range of 70 to

50 C and 1.820.5% d.b. except that of 20.5% (as high
moisture content) at which it displayed a linear relationship. Aviara and Haque (2001) showed that the best model
for specic heat of sheanut kernel as a function of moisture
and temperature is tted by a rst-order polynomial.

4. Conclusions
The specic heat of pistachio nut was determined for the
typical ranges of variety, moisture content, and temperature. The results showed the signicant variations in Cp values with changing these variables. The Cp increased with

S.M.A. Razavi, M. Taghizadeh / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 158167

increasing moisture content and temperature for all pistachio varieties and lay between 0.419 and 2.930 kJ/kg K.
The developed models can be also used to estimate the specic heat of pistachio satisfactory within the range of variables studied.
Acknowledgment
This research project was supported by the Department
of Food Science and Technology, Ferdowsi University of
Mashad, Iran.
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