Determination of some apricot seed and kernel physical and mechanical properties

Abstract

At the duration of this study, a sample of 100 intact apricot fruits, canino variety were selected randomly. The seeds were shelled using a nutcracker and the intact kernels were separated manually. Then, some apricot seed and kernel physical and mechanical properties were determined as relative parameters for designing the apricot seed kernels separator. The obtained results may be summarized as follows:

1. At 7.13% (w.b.) apricot seeds moisture content, the length, width and thickness values were 18.90, 16.48 and 11.31 mm, respectively. The surface area, projected area, volume, arithmetic mean diameter, geometric mean diameter, sphericity and aspect ratio values were 727.09 mm², 244.60 mm², 1847.69 mm³, 15.56 mm, 15.20 mm, 80.61 % and 87.53 %, respectively. The true and bulk density values were 0.708 and 0.354 g/cm³, respectively. The porosity was 49.99 %. The angle of repose was 27.29°. The static coefficient of friction values of 0.54, 0.50, 0.37, and 0.52 were recorded using viz wood, steel, glass and canino variety apricot seeds surfaces, respectively. The mean shearing force and hardness of apricot seed were 366.3 and 396.4 N, respectively.
2. At 9.21% (w.b.) apricot kernels moisture content, the length, width and thickness values were 14.19, 9.66 and 4.33 mm, respectively. The surface area, projected area, grain volume, arithmetic mean diameter, geometric mean diameter, sphericity and aspect ratio values were 222.00 mm², 107.76 mm², 311.92 mm³, 9.39 mm, 8.40 mm, 59.26 % and 68.20 %, respectively. The true and bulk density values were 0.896 and 0.425 g/cm³, respectively. The porosity was 52.61 %. The angle of repose was 22.56°. The static coefficient of friction values of 0.45, 0.44, 0.29, and 0.42 were recorded using viz wood, steel, glass and canino variety apricot seeds surfaces, respectively. The mean shearing force and hardness of apricot kernel were 62.8 and 67.9 N, respectively.

Finally, the obtained results provide a helpful database designing the apricot seed kernels separator.