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Subject: Agricultural Engineering × Start date: 2014 × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of Solar Energy Based Inclined Plate Honey Moisture Reduction System
    (Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2019) Iqbal Singh; Sukhmeet Singh
    Honey is delicious, nutritious and has high medicinal value in comparison to other sweeteners. Honey is usually extracted from comb as immature product which results in high moisture which makes it more liable to be fermented by osmophilic yeasts. So, it needs to be processed for moisture reduction, to delay crystallization and to overcome the problem of fermentation. The present study was undertaken to develop honey moisture reduction system based on solar energy with auxiliary electric heating. The system consists of a flat plate inclined at an angle. The plate is heated from the underside and honey for moisture reduction is re-circulated over it until desired moisture content is achieved. During testing, the moisture content of honey was reduced from 21.5% (w.b.) to 17% (w.b.). The moisture reduction system requires energy input for honey pumping, water pumping and water heating. The drying behavior and honey quality parameters affected by heating viz. HMF (Hydroxymethylfurfural content), diastase activity and colour difference from raw honey were investigated. The process parameters, water temperature and plate inclination were investigated in the range 40 to 70oC and 30 to 60o using four level full factorial design. The process parameters were optimized under simulated indoor conditions based on quality parameters and minimum energy input. The optimum water temperature and plate inclination have been found as 60oC and 60o. The solar energy based honey moisture reduction system has been validated at optimized conditions for quality parameters. The benefit cost ratio of the system considering the cost of raw and processed honey has been determined to be 3.90, thereby indicating that the developed system can be used profitably to reduce the moisture content of honey.