Studies on physico-mechanical properties of W. Murcott mandarin

The post-harvest physico-mechanical properties of fruits is important in adoption and design of varioushandling, packaging, storage and transportation systems. These are important for sizing and grading the fruit beforemarketing as well as demarcate their end use. Geometric, gravimetric and textural properties were determined forthe fresh samples of W. Murcottmandarin. The results show that W. Murcottfruit diameter varies from 81.82-68.97mm, equatorial length varies from 86.51-68.43 mm, and length varies from 61.33-52.08 mm. The specific mean areais 57.591 with the sphericity of 0.90. The L, a, b values were 53.37, 42.9 and 49.68 respectively. The firmness variedfrom 1.351-1.650 kgf. These physical attributes can be taken into consideration while designing the grading andprocessing equipment

Techno-Economic Analysis of the Multiple-Pass Ultrasonication with Mechanical Homogenization (MPUMH) Processing of Processed Carrot Discards to Puree

A sustainable valorization process for puree processing from processed carrot discards (PDCs) was proposed by using multiple-pass ultrasonication with mechanical homogenization (MPUMH), optimized at 9 min ultrasonication followed by mechanical homogenization for 1 min, subjected to three passes. Techno-economic analysis of the puree processing plant was studied for two process models using SuperPro Designer for a plant with a capacity of 17.4 MT/day, operational for 26 weeks, with a 20-year lifetime. The two scenarios were (i) base case (PDCs processed without peels and crowns) and (ii) case 2 (PDCs and carrots (50:50, w/w) processed with peels and crowns). Both scenarios were economically feasible with an internal rate of return (IRR) and return on investment (ROI) at 24.71% and 31.04% (base case) and 86.11% and 119.87% (case 2), respectively. Case 2 had a higher total capital investment (Can$13.7 million) but a lower annual operating cost (Can$8.9 million), resulting in greater revenue generation (Can$29.7 million), thus offering a higher ROI. Sensitivity analysis related to the number of passes on puree quality and price is suggested to lower the capital investment. For the base case, a lower ROI was due to the high labor cost incurred for manual peeling of PDCs, indicating the critical need for developing a commercial peeler equipped to cut labor costs and increase profitability. The study casts insights into the techno-economic performance of a sustainable process for the valorization of PDCs