INTRODUCTION
Moringa oleifera is native to certain parts of Africa and Asia and is the only genus in the Moringaceae family of flowering plants (Zaku et al., 2015). Moringa oleifera has been in use in traditional alternative medicine for many centuries to cure or prevent hundreds of illnesses (Aremu and Akintola, 2014). Moringa oleifera seeds contain a large amount of oil, known commercially as "Ben oil" or "Behen oil." Because of the evidence M. Oleifera is harvested and collected manually by hand picking, and in all the seeds harvested there are always unwanted materials which require the cleaning of the seeds.
The structural properties of this AB material are significant for characterizing and predicting processed product quality. There is a need for further processing of the harvested seeds to establish engineering properties, such as physical, chemical and oil properties among others. The knowledge of these properties is highly relevant to agricultural engineers due to the increasing economic importance of food materials, together with the complexity of modern technology for their production, handling, storage, processing, preservation, value addition and utilization (Adebayo and Nwankwo, 2013).
Among these, the most common structural properties are density and porosity. In addition to characterizing the product quality, these are critical parameters in process equipment design. They include the necessary information for the design of drying, storage, aeration and ventilation equipment for materials handling. A logical approach to agricultural machinery, equipment, and facilities design requires knowledge of the properties of the related agricultural product. The need for detailed information about its properties is important, since these properties influence the design and evaluation of the product's processing and handling.
METHODOLOGY
I. Determination of solid density
The true or solid density can be defined as the ratio of a given mass of sample to its volume and was determined by using water displacement method. Weigh the desired quantity/sample of Moringa seeds using precision balance to get the mass. Next is by conducting the water displacement method by using a graduated cylinder and water. Fill the graduated cylinder with enough water to completely immerse the desired seed quantity. Record the baseline initial measurement of the water then drop the sample. Lastly, record the final measurement and subtract the initial volume from the final volume to acquire the volume.
Displacement occurs when an object is largely immersed in a fluid, pushing it out of the way and taking its place. The volume of the fluid displaced can then be measured, and from this, the volume of the immersed object can be deduced (the volume of the immersed object will be exactly equal to the volume of the displaced fluid). The solid density was calculated using equation below. The test should be done in more replicates and get the mean value for a more precise data.
Determination of bulk density
Bulk density was determined by weighing the grains packed in a container of known volume. The container should be filled to the brim with the samples and gently taped many times for the samples to consolidate. The weights of the samples should be noted and the volume of the container should be estimated by filling with water, which was then poured into graduated measuring cylinders to determine the volume. The equation below was used to determine the bulk density of the grain sample.
Where:
ρb = Bulk density of the seeds (g/cm3)
Mb= mass of seeds in the beaker (g)
Vb= volume of beaker (cm3)
Determination of porosity
The porosity of the seeds will be calculated using the equation below.
Where:
ρb = bulk density (g/cm3 )
ρs = solid density (g/cm3 )
The bulk density is important for calculating thermal properties in heat transfer processes, for determining hydraulic material handling, for separating the product from unwanted materials, and for predicting physical structures and chemical composition. The porosity provides knowledge of the Moringa seed percentage void, and is important in heat and airflow studies.
References
Abubakar et. al (2018, June). Determination of selected engineering properties of Moringa
oleifera seed. Retrieved from https://www.myfoodresearch.com/uploads/8/4/8/5/
84855864/_2__fr-2018-124.r1_abubakar.pdf
Stupoop (2018). Volume of Spheres. Retrieved from https://www.instructables.com/id/Volume-
of-a-Sphere-2/
Boukouvalas et. al (2005). Density and Porosity: Literature Data Compilation for Foodstuffs.
Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10942910600575690
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