CHAPTER – 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

It is universally known that food is the primary requirement of human being after air
and water. World population is predicted to be about 7.6 billion up to 2020. Looking
at this growth of population in the next 25 years, about 50% more food is to be
produced. Therefore, agricultural production must be increased to guarantee the food
demand for the fast growing population. The population-food inequality can be solved
by increasing the food production or by controlling the population. Another most
viable solution to this food problem includes decreasing the food losses, which occur
during the food production and post-harvest (Brown, 1995). The post-harvest losses
of agricultural products are considered to be 30 – 40% (El-Sebaii and Shalaby, 2012).

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, which accounts about

17.32% to GDP and more than 70% of Indian population earn their livelihood from it.
Drying (moisture removal process) of agricultural products is one of the important
post-harvest process to save the products from losses. Table 1.1 presents the
recommended levels of safe moisture content and drying temperature for long term
storage of agricultural products (Sharma et al., 1993; Brooker et al., 1992; Tiwari and
Ghosal, 2005; Ahmad and Mirani, 2012; Krzyzanowski, et al., 2006; Togrul and
Pehlivan, 2004; Mujumdar, 1987; El-Sebaii et al., 2002; Purohit et al., 2006; Oyoh
and Menkiti, 2008), food products (Arun et al., 2014; Ayyappan and Mayilsamy,
2010) and other commodities (Panwar et al., 2014; Aritesty and Wulandani, 2014).

Rise of fossil fuels and oil prices has instigated researchers to look for the
renewable resources to meet the growing demand of energy. Solar energy is the most
important alternative source of energy which is preferred over to the other as it is
abundant, non-pollutant and everlasting. It is free of cost for all and environmental
friendly. Earth receives about 4000 trillion kWh of energy every day in the form of
electromagnetic radiations from sun (Gupta, 1999). India (located between 7o N and
37o N latitude) receives 5000 trillion kWh of solar energy every year. This huge
amount of energy can be exploited for thermal applications, particularly in the drying

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of agricultural products before their safe storage. In spite of the limitations, solar
energy has the potential to fulfil the various requirements of drying, power generation,
heating, lightening, and cooking etc.

Table 1.1: Moisture content details of various commodities

S. Crop Initial Final Maximum

No. moisture moisture permissible
content content temperature
(% w.b.) (% w.b.) (oC)
1 Apples 80 24 70
2 Apricots 85 18 65
3 Bananas 80 15 70
4 Brinjal 95 6 60
5 Cabbage, garlic, and onions 80 4 55
6 Cauliflower 80 6 65
7 Carrots and green beans 70 5 75
8 Copra 52.2 8 -
9 Coconuts 53.84 7 -
10 Corn 24 14 50
11 Chillies 80 5 65
12 Coffee 65 11 -
13 Fenugreek leaves 89 9 -
14 Fig 70 20 70
15 Ginger 80 8-11 -
16 Groundnuts 40 – 55 8 – 10 40 – 55
17 Green peas 80 5 65
18 Grapes 80 15 – 20 70
19 Guavas 80 7 65
20 Maize 35 15 60
21 Mulberries and yam 80 10 65
22 Nutmeg and sorrel 80 20 65
23 Oilseed 20 – 25 7-9 40 – 60
24 Okra 80 20 65
25 Rice 24 11 30
26 Paddy, raw 22 – 24 11 50
27 Paddy and parboiled 30-35 13 50
28 Peaches 85 18 65
29 Pineapple 80 10 65
30 Potatoes 75 13 75
31 Prunes 85 15 55
32 Pulses 20 – 22 9 – 10 40 – 60
33 Spinach, ginger, and turmeric 80 10 -
34 Sweet potatoes 75 7 75
35 Tomatoes 96 7 – 10 60
36 Wheat 20 16 45

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 Groundnut, commonly known as poor man’s nut, is the most important oilseed
crop grown throughout the world. India cultivates about 5.50 million hectares and
produces 6.3 million metric tons of groundnut with the productivity of 1.66 tonnes per
hectares (USDA, 2017). It is highly nutritious (50% of proteins and 55% of oil) to
health, rich source of antioxidants (Ansari et al., 2015) and good for the heart. In
India, groundnut is being harvested during Karif (June to September) and Rabi
(November to March) seasons. Generally, farmers dry groundnuts under open sun (4 –
5 days) to their safe storage moisture level, but the quality of the product dried under
open sun are deteriorated by rodents, UV radiation, animals, birds etc. Moreover, the
post-harvest losses in groundnuts are estimated to be 10 – 25% of its production in
Asia (Rao et al., 2010). Therefore, an advance technique, i.e., greenhouse technology
can be adopted to overcome the limitations of open sun drying. The proper use of
greenhouse dryer not only improves the quality of the product but also reduces the
drying time.

1.2 Present status of groundnut

Peanuts or groundnuts (arachis hypogaea) are vital and powerful food source for
people all over the world (Reese and Leherer, 1999; Chang et al., 2013). Groundnut
belongs to the Fabaceae (bean) family, is the ‘King’ of oilseeds derived from two
Greek words, arachis means legume or beans and hypogaea means below ground
(refers to formation of pods in the soil). It is also called a wonder nut, earth nut,
monkey nut, goobers, pinder, panda, manila nut, and poor men’s cashew nut
(Woodroof, 1983; Madhusudana, 2013; Chang et al., 2013; Gadhiya et al., 2014).
Groundnuts were reported to be originated in South America and then spread to Brazil
(Zhao et al., 2012). It was introduced by Portuguese from Brazil to West Africa and
then to South Western India in the 16th Century. These are grown in almost all the
tropical and subtropical countries of the world. Light and sandy loam soil is preferred
for the production of groundnuts. Climatic conditions significantly influence the
growth of groundnuts. Temperature of 30 oC is considered to be the optimum for
rapid germination and development of pods (Nautiyal, 2002).

Production of groundnut has reached about 42.24 million metric tons per year
(USDA, 2017). India contributes 14.83% share of groundnut production in the world
(USDA, 2017) and ranks second (6.3 million metric tons) in the production of
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groundnut followed by China (17 million metric tons). China is the world’s leading
groundnut producer, followed by India and the United States (USDA, 2017). The
area, yield, and production of groundnut in the world are shown in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2: Area, yield, and production of groundnut in various countries of

world (USDA, 2017 Table 13: Peanut Area, Yield, and Production)

Country Area Yield Production

(Million (Metric tons (Million
hectares) per hectares) metric tons)
United States 0.63 4.12 2.58
China 4.75 3.58 17.00
India 5.50 4.86 6.30
Pakistan 0.09 0.94 0.09
Nigeria 2.50 1.20 3.00
Chad 0.50 0.80 0.40
Senegal 1.10 0.91 1.00
Ghana 0.40 1.10 0.44
Sudan 1.80 0.78 1.40
Congo (Kinshasa) 0.48 0.78 0.37
Burkina 0.45 0.78 0.35
Guinea 0.21 1.24 0.26
Cameroon 0.40 1.38 0.55
Mali 0.38 0.87 0.33
Malawi 0.37 0.71 0.26
Cote d'Ivoire 0.08 1.13 0.09
Uganda 0.43 0.71 0.30
Central African Republic 0.10 1.50 0.15
Benin 0.15 0.93 0.14
Mozambique 0.29 0.38 0.11
Niger 0.74 0.47 0.35
South Africa 0.05 1.56 0.07
Indonesia 0.61 1.84 1.13
Burma 0.89 1.55 1.38
Vietnam 0.22 2.38 0.49
Thailand 0.02 1.67 0.04
Argentina 0.37 3.24 1.20
Brazil 0.10 3.36 0.33
Egypt 0.06 3.20 0.21
Maxico 0.07 1.60 0.11
Brazil 0.12 3.46 0.43
Others 1.72 1.01 1.74

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 Groundnut is the chief edible oilseed crop of India and accounts for about 45%
of the area and 55% of the production of total oilseeds in the country. It also accounts
for 43% of total oil production in the country (Aher, 2014). Total area and production
of groundnut in India were approximately 5.5 million hectares and 6.3 million metric
tons respectively (State of Indian Agriculture, 2013). 75% of groundnut crop is
produced in Karif (June – September) and 25% in Rabi season (November – March).
The major groundnut producing states in India are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu,
Andhra Pradesh (AP) + Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West
Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand. The area and production
of groundnut in India, state wise for the year 2014 – 15, are shown in Figure 1.1
(Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agricultural and Farmers
Welfare, India, 2017) and State wise productivity of groundnut in India is shown in
Figure 1.2 (Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agricultural and
Farmers Welfare, India, 2017).

Figure 1.1: State wise area and production of groundnut in India for the year
2014 – 2015

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 Figure 1.2: State wise productivity of groundnut in India for the year
2014 – 2015
Export of groundnuts from India since 1999 – 2000 to 2015 – 2016 is shown in
Figure 1.3 (APEDA, 2017). From Figure 1.1, it is seen that Gujarat is the leading state
in area and production of groundnuts followed by Rajasthan in production and AP +
Telangana in area respectively, whereas Tamilnadu is the leading state in productivity
followed by West Bengal and Punjab.

Figure 1.3: Export of groundnut from India since 1999 – 2016

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 1.3 General and physical aspects of groundnut

Groundnut is a major oilseed crop in India and is highly nutritious. It is major source
of oil and proteins (Reddy and Bentilan, 2012). About every part of groundnut plant is
used commercially. Groundnut kernels are rich and cheap source of oil, proteins,
minerals, and vitamins (Dwivedi et al., 1996). The nutrient and food values for
groundnut and its comparison with other protein foods is given in Table 1.3 (Gadhiya
et al., 2014; Akcali et al., 2006; Woodroof, 1983; Talawar, 2004).

Table 1.3: Nutrient and food values of groundnut

Nutrient Groundnut Milk Egg Mutton Beef Red

(per 100 g) (cow) (fowl) gram
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
Calories 593 calories
Proteins 20 – 50% 3.3 13.3 18.5 22.6 22.3
Calcium 61 mg
Potassium 725 mg
Magnesium 176 mg
Phosphorous 396.4 mg
Folate 120 mcg
Carbohydrates 10 – 20% 4.8 57.2
Dietary Fibre 9.3 g
Total fat 40 – 50% 3.6 13.3 13.3 2.6 1.7
Edible oil 43 – 55%
Calorific value 500 – 600 65 17.3 194 114 333

Groundnuts are one of the main oil crops in the world. Its various popular types
are Spanish, Runner, Virginia, and Valencia (USDA, 1954; Woodroof, 1983;
Talawar, 2004) where Spanish types are generally grown in South Africa and the
Southern western United States and are still extensively grown in California, Texas,
Oklahoma, and India. After 1940, Spanish type of peanuts was shifted to Runner type
in Southern United States. This was due to higher yields and wider use of Runner
varieties in peanut butter and salted peanuts. Virginia types of peanuts are grown in
India, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and parts of Georgia. These large seeded
peanuts are very popular due to its demand for large peanuts for processing. Valencia
types of peanuts are grown in Portaies Valley of New Mexico. These are large,
smooth, and bright with red, white, pink or purple kernels. These are sweet flavoured

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nuts with 3 – 4 seeds per pod. These are popular because of ease of hand shelling and
roasting. These are best for boiling.

Qualities of groundnuts are decided by flavour, texture, and colour (Misra,

2004; Chang et al., 2013). Among these, flavour of the groundnut plays a significant
role in acceptability of the groundnut products. Most of the flavour of groundnuts lies
in its oil. Crunchy and crisp are textural attributes which are important and desirable
qualities of groundnuts. Crisp food is one which is stiff and snap easily with crunchy
sound. Crispness has been reported to be the most versatile single texture parameter.
Colour of raw groundnut is credited to taste and oil.

Indian groundnuts are very popular in the international market because of its
characteristics such as taste, natural flavour, and crunchy texture. Therefore, Indian
groundnuts have better export opportunity. Groundnuts are consumed in the form of
nuts. Groundnuts are being consumed throughout world in many forms (Woodroof,
1983). About every part of groundnut is of commercial use such as groundnut oil
which is 43% to 55% present in the groundnut and is primarily used as a cooking oil
and salad oil. It is also used in preparations of cosmetics, soap making, shaving
cream, furniture cream, leather dressings, lubricants, preservation medium, chutney
etc. It is used in vanaspati ghee also. Groundnut/peanut oil can be used as an alternate
fuel for diesel engines (Oniya and Bamgboye, 2014). Roasted groundnuts/peanuts are
used for the manufacturing of peanut butter (Smartt, 1994). It is consumed at houses
and large quantities are also used in manufacturing of sandwiches, candies, and
bakery items. Although the food value of groundnuts is highest when it is eaten raw
(groundnut kernels). Dry and oil roasted, boiled peanuts are excellent foods and can
even be combined with other commonly used foods. Groundnuts are added in salads,
desserts, cookies, chocolates, coffee cakes, breads, bakery products, ice cream etc. to
make them more nutritious. The residue left after the extraction of groundnut oil is
called groundnut oil cake and is mainly used as cattle feed. Every part of groundnut
has economical and agricultural value. The plant is a legume and produces Rhizobia
genus bacteria on the roots, which is a soil improvement crop. The high nutritional
value of groundnut vines and leaves make it good feed for cattle, sheep, goats, mules
etc. Groundnut shells are used as fuel.

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1.4 Harvesting and curing of groundnuts

Groundnut is one of the most important principal oil and protein producing crop in the
world. In most of the countries, groundnut kernels are used for extraction of oil, food
and ingredients or confectionery products. The residual cake, after extraction, is
processed for animal feed and is used for human feeding also. Production of fungus
‘Aspergillus flavus’ to the groundnut kernels is a serious problem in the trade of
groundnuts in the international market which has hindered the export market of the
developing countries. Most of the developing countries have poor drying and storage
facilities. Therefore, the need is felt to look for minimizing fungus and use of proper
drying and storage methods to get the better quality of the groundnuts. Therefore, pre-
harvest control of fungus of groundnuts must be taken into consideration. The factors
can vary from one location to another and season to season of the same location.
Although proper use of agricultural practices such as crop rotation, proper tillage,
accurate planting date, proper use of fertilizers and properly managed irrigation may
save groundnuts from fungus contamination.

Fields, selected for growing of groundnuts, should have suitable type of soil, as
groundnuts grow in deep well drained, friable, loose, and sandy loam. Sand should be
light textured and free from stones, gravel, glass pieces, and other materials that
cannot be easily removed or blown out of groundnuts. Soil should contain slightly
acid reactive (pH of 6.0 – 6.4), enough lime and other elements for normal
development.

Groundnut crop rotation with other crops such as cotton, maize, castor,
sorghum, and pigeon pea is beneficial (Nautiyal, 2002; Torres et al., 2014) in respect
of effective use of residual soil fertility, controlling weeds, and reducing soil borne
disease. Sowing depends on weather and soil conditions. It is always desirable to
plant groundnut seeds early with settled weather and a well warm soil. Seed should be
covered to a depth of 5 – 6 cm. For rapid emergence, soil temperature about 21 oC is
required. The temperature of the most rapid germination and seedling development
was reported to be approximately 30 oC (Nautiyal, 2002). The groundnut plant
produces horizontal stems, which in turn produce flowers at each node which are self-
pollinate and produce peg which penetrates the ground. And pods are produced at the
tips of the pegs. High yield and superior quality groundnuts require a moderate
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growing period of 4–5 months. The growing season should be long, warm and moist
and the harvesting season should be dry (Beattie, 1954).

Harvesting typically consists of various operations such as digging, lifting,

windrowing, stocking, and threshing. Groundnuts should be harvested when
approximately 75% of the pods have reached maturity (vine begins to turn yellow and
leaf shedding starts and pods have dark markings inside the shell). If harvested too
early, the seeds may shrink during drying and reducing the oil content and quality of
the groundnut seed. But delays in harvesting results in poor quality pod due to mould
infection and aflatoxin contamination of the pods. These are best harvested during
clear weather when the soil is dry enough such that it will not stick to the stems and
pods. Plants are lifted and collected in packets of 10 – 20 plants and are placed in
stacks. The harvested groundnuts have a moisture content of approximately 35 – 50%
(Woodroof, 1983). Groundnuts are separated from all other materials during threshing
which can be done manually or operated by a diesel engine.

Groundnuts, after harvesting, are dried naturally or artificially. Some of the

drying methods adopted by developing countries are given in Figure 1.4.

Figure 1.4: Drying methods of groundnuts (Nautiyal, 2002)

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1.5 Drying of groundnuts

In natural methods of drying, groundnuts are dried by spreading the plants on ground
directly exposed to sun for several days to its optimum moisture content. Open sun
drying (OSD) (Figure 1.5) is the oldest and most common traditional method to
preserve agricultural products in which the products are spread on ground directly
exposed to solar radiations. The solar radiation falling on the surface is partly
reflected and partly absorbed. The absorbed radiations and surrounding air heat up the
surface. A part of this heat is utilized to evaporate the moisture from the surface to the
surrounding air. The part of this heat is lost through long wave length radiations to the
atmosphere and through the conduction to the ground. If groundnuts are left for a
longer duration, then sunlight may discolour the nuts. Mould may develop and cause
breaking of pods. In case of windrow drying, bunch of about ten plants are left on the
ground of the field. Windrow drying is recommended prior to drying in sacks.

Figure 1.5: Schematic of open sun drying of groundnuts (Tiwari, 2014)

In case of DOR (Directorate of Oilseeds Research, 1983) method for drying

groundnuts under shade two heaps of one meter diameters, with one heap inverted
over the other in such a way that the haulm of upper heap cover the exposed
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peripheral pods from direct solar radiations. Further National Research Centre for
Groundnut (NRCG) developed a method in which a pyramid shaped structure (Figure
1.6) was made in the field with the help of three bamboo poles. A coir rope was
wrapped around throughout the structure. After harvesting, plants were hanged in
inverted position on the rope of the structure. Groundnut plants were allowed to dry
for about 5 days. Restriction in air movement to the pods at the ground level and
labour and time to gather pods together, cover them with rain showers and re-
spreading pods for continuous drying were the main difficulties in this method.

Figure 1.6: Schematic of NRCG method of drying pods (Nautiyal, 2002)

In some countries, plants are spread on trays and exposed to sun during daytime
and shifted into the house at night. Sometimes cured pods from the plants were kept
on platforms to complete drying. Whereas high moisture pods are kept in bags and
every day these are brought out of the store-room and spread in open sun for drying.
Sometimes, groundnuts of about 30% moisture content kept in open bags and
suspended vertically supported at both ends by strong vertical posts. This method
(rack drying) took around 10 days to dry the groundnut pods to reach safe moisture
level. During humid conditions, heat was used to reach safe moisture level.

After partial windrow drying groundnuts on the haulms are to be dried in batch
dryers, which uses a heater and a fan. In Tanzania, tests were carried out in batch
dryers and the maximum temperature was reported to be 54 oC in single layer of sacks
to dry groundnuts from moisture content of 48% to 8%. Groundnuts were also dried
in tray dryer in Tanzania and 2 feet deep freshly harvested pods were dried from

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initial to final moisture content of 8% using air temperature was maintained at 38 oC.
Simple twin tray dryers were also used in Tanzania in which fan was driven by a
diesel engine. In continuous flow dryers, temperature of hot air was also maintained at
38 oC which was drawn under gravity through the produce (Woodroof, 1983).

1.6 Organization of chapters

This thesis is organized in 6 chapters. Chapter 1 contains an introduction of

agriculture in the World and India. The present status of groundnuts throughout the
World and India, and its general and physical aspects, harvesting and curing are also
presented. The extensive literature of groundnut drying and other commodities by
different drying modes is discussed in chapter 2. The groundnuts dried by mechanical
and forced dryers are presented. The details of work on drying of various
commodities under open sun drying mode, and various shapes of greenhouse and
indoor forced convection drying mode have been presented in this chapter. A brief
review of greenhouse applications is also discussed. The studies on mathematical
modeling and thin layer drying of fruits, vegetables, leaves, herbs, grains, food
products, nuts, and spices are also presented. Research gap of literature review,
objectives and research approach are included in this chapter. Chapter 3 presents the
modeling used for the evaluation of convective heat and mass transfer coefficients.
The thermal efficiency, energy and exergy efficiencies of greenhouse dryer are also
described. Cost of drying groundnuts and statistical parameters are described in this
chapter. In chapter 4, the required experimental setups for open sun drying, natural
convection greenhouse drying, forced convection greenhouse drying, and indoor
forced convection drying modes are illustrated. The instrumentation used for the
drying of groundnuts under all drying modes are also discussed. Chapter 5 deals with
the evaluation of convective heat transfer coefficients ( hc ) and evaporative heat

transfer coefficients ( he ) for drying of groundnuts under all drying modes. The effect

of mass on hc for groundnuts drying under open sun drying (OSD) mode was
investigated. Three wire mesh sieve of sizes 0.15×0.25 m2, 0.25×0.4 m2, and 0.35×0.6
m2 were taken to accommodate the single layer of groundnut under natural convection
greenhouse drying (NCGHD), and forced convection greenhouse drying (FCGHD)
modes. The values of hc , he , thermal efficiency, energy and exergy efficiencies of

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greenhouse dryer for groundnut drying under NCGHD and FCGHD modes were
evaluated. Cost of drying groundnuts under greenhouse drying and indoor forced
convection drying modes was determined. The thin layer drying behaviour of
groundnut was investigated to predict the moisture ratio. The important conclusions of
the study are given in chapter 6. The recommendations and suggestions for the future
work are also mentioned in this chapter.

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