CIPHET commercialises custard apple pulper, micro-encapsulation system
Two new technologies - custard apple pulper and autoclavable micro-encapsulation system - developed by the Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana, Punjab, were commercialised during the Quinquennial Review Team Meeting, which was held at the institute’s premises on February 25.
Two new technologies - custard apple pulper and autoclavable micro-encapsulation system - developed by the Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana, Punjab, were commercialised during the Quinquennial Review Team Meeting, which was held at the institute’s premises on February 25.
The license for the custard apple pulper was sold to Nextgen Drying System Pvt. Ltd (NGDS), Pune, for Rs 1.85 lakh; and the autoclavable micro-encapsulation system was licensed to Singh Scientific Glass Work (SSGW), Ludhiana, for Rs 50,000. Both are new technologies, and CIPHET and the new licensees were confident that they would prove to be a boon to the food processing industries.
Dr R K Gupta, director, CIPHET; Dr N C Patil, chairman of the review team; Dr J B Prajapati and Dr Sandeep Kapoor, members of the review team; Dr S K Nanda, senior member of the faculty and project co-ordinator, PHT; and Dr Deepak Raj Rai, head, transfer of technology division, CIPHET; were present on the occasion.
Dr V Eyarkai Nambi, the scientist who developed the custard apple pulper; Dr K Narsaiah and Dr M R Manikantan, senior scientists, and Dr S N Jha, head, AS&EC, the team that developed the autoclavable micro-encapsulation system received letters of appreciation. Shivanand Shelge, director, NGDS, and Parvinder Singh, owner, SSGW, paid the licensing fees to CIPHET.
Custard apple pulper
According to Dr Rai, a custard apple pulper is a machine for separating pulp, seeds and peels from custard apples, and contains three mechanisms, namely a fruit-cutting mechanism, a fruit-scooping mechanism and a pulping mechanism. Fruit cutting and scooping are done with pneumatic actuators and electronic controls. It is fully automatic.
Dr R K Gupta, director, CIPHET; Dr N C Patil, chairman of the review team; Dr J B Prajapati and Dr Sandeep Kapoor, members of the review team; Dr S K Nanda, senior member of the faculty and project co-ordinator, PHT; and Dr Deepak Raj Rai, head, transfer of technology division, CIPHET; were present on the occasion.
Dr V Eyarkai Nambi, the scientist who developed the custard apple pulper; Dr K Narsaiah and Dr M R Manikantan, senior scientists, and Dr S N Jha, head, AS&EC, the team that developed the autoclavable micro-encapsulation system received letters of appreciation. Shivanand Shelge, director, NGDS, and Parvinder Singh, owner, SSGW, paid the licensing fees to CIPHET.
Custard apple pulper
According to Dr Rai, a custard apple pulper is a machine for separating pulp, seeds and peels from custard apples, and contains three mechanisms, namely a fruit-cutting mechanism, a fruit-scooping mechanism and a pulping mechanism. Fruit cutting and scooping are done with pneumatic actuators and electronic controls. It is fully automatic.
- Fruit cutting mechanism: This cuts the fruit into two halves. It has two rollers, which rotate in opposite directions, and fruit holding cups which are arranged in such a way that the fruit can be held without any damage and guided while cutting and while it falls onto the guide plate, which is below the cutting mechanism. The guide plate supports the knife and helps the two halves of the fruit to fall with their cut side facing down.
- Fruit scooping mechanism: This is the part of the machine where the pulp and the seed are scooped. It has three parts, namely the peel holding sieve, the pressing mechanism and the scooping mechanism.
- Pulping mechanism: This part of the machine has a special sieve and a pulping shaft with beaters. The sieve is specially designed to maintain the shape of the pulp extracted along with the seed. The speed of the pulping beater and the inclination of the pulping chamber are optimised.
The approximate dimensions of the cutting and scooping mechanisms are 180cm X 120cm X 140cm; and those of the pulping mechanism are 100cm X 75cm X 80cm.
The cutting and scooping mechanisms have a capacity of about 120kg/hour and their efficiency is about 94 per cent pulp recovery, 6 per cent wastage along with the peels and about 11 per cent peel in the pulp outlet.
The pulping mechanism has a capacity of about 120kg/hour and its efficiency is about 70-72 per cent coarse (or intact) pulp recovery and 28-30 per cent fine pulp recovery.
Autoclavable micro-encapsulation system
Micro-encapsulation is a process by which tiny particles or droplets are surrounded by a coating to give small capsules a number of useful properties. The autoclavable micro-encapsulation system has a multi-stage break-up two-fluid nozzle for clean production of micro-capsules (small spheres with uniform walls around them).
Micro-encapsulation has a variety of industrial applications, including food, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. Its application in the food industry seems to be the widest; it is typically used to control the release of flavourings and the production of foods containing functional ingredients such as probiotics and bioactive ingredients.
In general, the main reason for the micro-encapsulation of food ingredients can be summarised as the protection of unstable, sensitive materials from environmental conditions; controlled, sustained and timed release of materials; taste and odour-masking; improved shelf life due to preventive degradative reactions; incorporation of encapsulated preservatives; and new formulation concepts of nutritious and functional infant foods.
Micro-encapsulation using the air atomisation principle (two-fluid nozzle) is a cost-effective method. It was developed at CIPHET for application in the food industry. It also operates under mild operating conditions, particularly for encapsulating sensitive food ingredients.
The micro-encapsulator was used to encapsulate herbal extracts, enzymes, probiotic micro-organisms, yeast cells and other bioactive food ingredients.
The autoclavable micro-encapsulator is used for the encapsulation of micro-organisms under sterile environment conditions. The capacity of the system is 4kg of wet alginate capsules per batch. The estimated cost of the system is Rs 3,00,000.
The cutting and scooping mechanisms have a capacity of about 120kg/hour and their efficiency is about 94 per cent pulp recovery, 6 per cent wastage along with the peels and about 11 per cent peel in the pulp outlet.
The pulping mechanism has a capacity of about 120kg/hour and its efficiency is about 70-72 per cent coarse (or intact) pulp recovery and 28-30 per cent fine pulp recovery.
Autoclavable micro-encapsulation system
Micro-encapsulation is a process by which tiny particles or droplets are surrounded by a coating to give small capsules a number of useful properties. The autoclavable micro-encapsulation system has a multi-stage break-up two-fluid nozzle for clean production of micro-capsules (small spheres with uniform walls around them).
Micro-encapsulation has a variety of industrial applications, including food, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. Its application in the food industry seems to be the widest; it is typically used to control the release of flavourings and the production of foods containing functional ingredients such as probiotics and bioactive ingredients.
In general, the main reason for the micro-encapsulation of food ingredients can be summarised as the protection of unstable, sensitive materials from environmental conditions; controlled, sustained and timed release of materials; taste and odour-masking; improved shelf life due to preventive degradative reactions; incorporation of encapsulated preservatives; and new formulation concepts of nutritious and functional infant foods.
Micro-encapsulation using the air atomisation principle (two-fluid nozzle) is a cost-effective method. It was developed at CIPHET for application in the food industry. It also operates under mild operating conditions, particularly for encapsulating sensitive food ingredients.
The micro-encapsulator was used to encapsulate herbal extracts, enzymes, probiotic micro-organisms, yeast cells and other bioactive food ingredients.
The autoclavable micro-encapsulator is used for the encapsulation of micro-organisms under sterile environment conditions. The capacity of the system is 4kg of wet alginate capsules per batch. The estimated cost of the system is Rs 3,00,000.
Source: Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology
All content and features on this website are copyrighted with all rights reserved. The full details can be found in our privacy statement
