Importance of Properties of

Agricultural Materials in Processing

 A knowledge of these properties constitutes
important and essential engineering data in
design of machines, structures, processes and
controls; in analysing and determining the
efficiency of a machine or an operation; in
developing new consumer products of plant and
animal origins and in evaluating and retaining the
quality of the final product.
 These properties can be classified as: physical
characteristics, electrical properties, mechanical,
thermal and optical characteristics.
 Physical Characteristics
 Shape, size, volume, surface area, density,
porosity, colour and appearance are some of the
physical characteristics which are important in
many problems associated with design of a
specific machine or analysis of the behaviour of
the product during material handling
 The shape and the dimensions of a material that
are employed are two important determinants in
the analysis of the cooling curve of a fruit or
understanding the problem of separation of seeds
and grains from undesirable materials
 The question of shape and size is also important
in problem of stress distribution in the material
underload, in electrostatic separation of seeds and
grains, in light reflectance and colour evaluation
and the development of sizing and grading
machinery.
 The density and specific gravity are important
factors considered in calculating of thermal
diffusivity in heat transfer problems, in
determining reynold’s number in pneumatic and
hydraulic handling of the material, in separating
products from undesirable materials
 Mechanical Properties
 Mechanical damage to seeds and grains which
occur in harvesting threshing and handling can
seriously affect viability and germination, power,
growth vigour, insects and fungi attack and the
quality of the final product.
 It is therefore important to design harvesting,
threshing, handling and processing equipment
carefully putting into consideration the delicacy
of the agricultural materials.
 Properties vary for each crop and very often need
to be investigated before processing equipment is
designed or appropriated to a given crop.
 Cont..
 Mechanical properties such as compressive
strength, impact and shear resistance are
important in studying size reduction of cereal
grains as well as seed resistance.
 Such information is necessary to determine the
best method (shear, impact or static crushing) to
breakup or reduce the size of any agricultural
product for example grains and fruits
 Static and sliding coefficients of friction of
grains, forage materials are needed for rational
design and predicting motion of the material in
harvesting and handling equipment
 Cont..
 Shearing resistance and bending strength of
forage crops as they are cut are also important
mechanical properties for understanding the
nature of the cutting process and energy
requirements.

 If mechanical handling of agricultural products

result in deformation and flow, they are referred
to as rheological properties and are important in
the processing and handling of liquids.
 Thermal Properties
 Many of the agricultural products of plant or
animal origin are subjected to various types of
thermal processing during processing
 The thermal processing may include heating,
cooling, drying and freezing. It is upon the
thermal properties of the product that any change
of temperature will largely depend
 Thermal characteristics as specific heat, thermal
diffusivity, surface conductance and emissivity,
together with physical characteristics as density,
shape and size is essential for design of
equipment and predicting thermal processes.
 Electrical Properties
 Important electrical properties in handling and
processing include electrical conductance and
capacitance, dielectric properties and reaction to
electromagnetic radiation.
 Electrical conductance or capacitance properties
are used in moisture content determination of
cereal grains,
 An impedence technique based on the fact that
when a tissue is dead it has no capacitance, is
used to determine extent of injury to plant tissues.
 Cont…
 Electromagnetic radiation has considerable
potential for processing of agricultural
preservation of foods can be used for the
inactivation of micro-organisms that cause
spoilage, inactivation of food borne
pathogenic microorganisms, delaying of
ripening of fresh fruits and vegetables or to
inhibit ripening and to effect a chemical
change in food itself to improve quality.
 Optical Properties
 Light transmittance and reflectance properties of
agricultural products have been explored in
recent years for electronic sorting and grading,
maturity, surface colour determinations and study
of interior characteristics of fruits and vegetables
(Mohsenin, 1986).

 This is based on the fact that intact agricultural

product are dense, light scattering materials
which require a highly sensitive and specially
designed spectrophotometer
 Constituents of Foods
 A knowledge of the constituents of foods and
their properties in central to the study of foods.
 Foods are made up of three groups biochemical's
i.e carbohydrates,proteins, fats and derivatives of
these.
 In addition there are inorganic and mineral
components and a diverse group of organic
substances as vitamins, enzymes,
emulsifiers,acids,antioxidants, pigments and
Flavours, colour and nutritive value.
 Cont…
 Water is also an ever present constituent

 These compounds are arranged in different foods

to give the food there structure, texture, flavor,
colour and nutritive value.

 For example whole milk and fresh apples have

about the same water content but one is a solid
and the other a fluid because of the way the
components are arranged
 Cont…
 Sometimes we are not satisfied with the
keeping quality of the foods so we add
other materials to foods to improve one or
more properties e.g flavours,acids etc
 Assignment 1
 In groups select a raw food
 Describe its properties and state its
constituents
 List the food products processed from it
and how they are determined by the
properties mentioned above.
 Specifically show the process flow for one
of them. How do the properties above
determine and affect the above process.