Energy 31 (2006) 13051320

www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Estimating energy requirement in cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) nut processing operations
S.O. Jekayinfaa,*, A.I. Bamgboyeb
a

Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria b Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria Received 24 April 2005

Abstract This work deals with a study on estimation of energy consumption in eight readily dened unit operations of cashew nut processing. Data for analysis were collected from nine cashew nut mills stratied into small, medium and large categories to represent different mechanization levels. Series of equations were developed to easily compute requirements of electricity, fuel and labour for each of the unit operations. The computation of energy use was done using spreadsheet program on Microsoft Excel. The results of application test of the equations show that the total energy intensity in the cashew nut mills varied between 0.21 and 1.161 MJ/kg. Electrical energy intensity varied between 0.0052 and 0.029 MJ/kg, while thermal energy intensity varied from 0.085 to 1.064 MJ/kg. The two identied energy intensive operations in cashew nut processing are cashew nut drying and cashew nut roasting, altogether accounting for over 85% of the total energy consumption in all the three mill categories. Thermal energy, obtained from diesel fuel, represented about 90% of the unit energy cost for cashew nut processing. The developed equations have therefore proven to be a useful tool for carrying out budgeting, forecasting energy requirements and planning plant expansion. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cashew nut; Unit operations; Energy requirement; Empirical equations

* Corresponding author. Fax: C234 3872 0383. E-mail address: jekaysol@yahoo.com (S.O. Jekayinfa).
0360-5442/$ - see front matter q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2005.07.001

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Nomenclature Ec Esc Er Es Esp Ed Epg Ep ET t C W P N K energy requirement for cashew nut cleaning (J) energy requirement for cashew-nut soaking/conditioning (J) energy requirement for roasting (J) energy requirement for shelling (J) energy requirement for separation (J) energy requirement for drying (J) energy requirement for peeling and grading (J) energy requirement for packing (J) total energy requirement for all cashew kernel/nut processing operations (J) time taken for a particular operation(i.e. tc, tsc, tr, ts, tsp, td, tpg, tp) (h) heating value of fuel used for a particular operation (i.e. Cc, Csc, Cr, Cs, Csp, Cd, Cpg, Cp) (J/kg or J/l) quantity of fuel used for a particular operation (i.e. Wc, Wsc, Wr, Ws, Wsp, Wd, Wpg, Wp) (l) electrical power consumed for a particular operation (i.e. Pc, Psc, Pr, Ps, Psp, Pd, Ppg, Pp) (kW) number of persons involved in a particular operation (i.e. Nc, Nsc, Nr, Ns, Nsp, Nd, Npg, Np) efciency of the electric motor used for a particular operation (i.e. Kc, Ksc, Kr, Ks, Ksp, Kd, Kpg, Kp)

Subscript c cleaning sc soaking or conditioning r roasting s shelling sp separation d drying pg peeling and grading p packaging

1. Introduction Energy is an essential facet of human activities. It is indeed the live wire of industrial, food and agricultural production, the fuel for transportation as well as for the generation of electricity in conventional thermal power plants. No action will occur within a system without an enabling energy ow and a system wide entropy increase. According to Sambo [1] and Fluck [2], a high percentage of the worlds total energy output is generated from fossil fuels such as oil and coal and it is universally conceded that fossil fuels are nite. It is only a matter of time before fossil fuel reserves will be depleted. Industrialized agriculture and food production rely on energy to carry out the desired operations and obtain high processing efciencies in mechanization of crop handling and conveyance and thermal processing, to assure safe storage of agricultural products, and conversion processes that create new forms of food. Electricity and petroleum account for a major portion of energy for food and farm

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processing operation [3]. Commercial energy (electricity and petroleum) inputs are indispensable parts of transitional and modern agriculture. Therefore, a slight increase in the energy inow often results in a signicant response in food production. Hence, there is a particular need for energy management strategy in food and agricultural production complex. The philosophy underlying energy analysis is not new. For over a hundred years, engineers have taken a close interest in the energy consumption of the machines they have designed. But, they have only been interested in the performance of the machines and plant associated with a production process. In recent years however, energy analysis has been expanded to encompass not only the actual manufacturing processes but also ancillary operations and services that are needed to study present-day industry [4]. Although the ancillary operations may individually consume only small quantities of energy, however they can also be responsible for large total energy consumption because of the large number of such operations that are frequently needed in a production complex. A number of reasons can be put forward to emphasize the need for efcient and rational use of industrial energy. First, inefcient industrial energy use could lead to huge economic losses. Second, excessive energy consumption adds to the costs of goods produced especially in the energy intensive industries. Three main cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) products are traded on the international market [5]. These include raw nuts, cashew kernels and cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL). The raw cashew nut is the main commercial product of the cashew tree, though yields of the cashew apple are 810 times the weight of the raw nuts. Raw nuts are either exported or processed prior to export. The cashew kernel is a rich source of fat (46%) and protein (18%) and is a good source of calcium, phosphorus and iron. It has a high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially the essential fatty acid. The cashew nut kernel is made up of three different portionsthe shell, the kernel and the adhering testa. The primary product of cashew nuts is the kernel, which is the edible portion of the nut and is consumed in three ways: directly by the consumer; as roasted and salted nuts; and in confectionery and bakery products. Cashew processing is a tedious and arduous task because of the irregular shape of the cashew nut, the presence of tough outer shell and the corrosive CNSL within the shell. The current sequence of cashew nut processing operations is outlined in Fig. 1. The rst processing operation is to remove foreign matter and dirt from the nuts. This is achieved by hand, using a 20 mm mesh sieve to remove dust and dirt or by means of a mechanical cleaner. To avoid scorching the nuts during the roasting operation, the nuts are soaked in water. There is a need to prepare the conditioned nuts for the removal of shells. The application of heat to the nut releases the cashew-nut shell liquid and makes the shell brittle, which facilitates the extraction of the kernel when breaking the shell open. In the mills surveyed, the drum roasting method is employed whereby a rotating drum placed on re is continually fed with nuts. The drum is pierced so that the ames touch the nuts and the smoke is controlled by a hood and chimney arrangement. Shelling of roasted nuts is accomplished both mechanically and manually. In the manual shelling, nuts are placed on a at stone and cracked with a wooden mallet. An average Sheller opens one nut in about 4 s or 15 nuts per minute. The mechanical sheller common to all mills is a centrifugal decorticator that enables a continuous ow. In the machine, a rotary paddle projects the shells against the solid casing of the machine and the impact cracks open the shell without breaking the kernel. In order to facilitate the removal of testa-covered shelled kernel, the shelled kernel is dried. This shrinks the kernel so that the testa can be removed by hand with a knife or by mechanical means. Drying also protects the kernel from pest and fungi attack at this vulnerable stage. The next operation, peeling, is done to remove the testa that is now loosely attached to the kernel. The peeled kernels are separated into different grades at this stage.

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Fig. 1. Overview of cashew nut processing.

The processed kernels are either packaged for domestic retailing within the country or for export. In the latter, the normal packaging is in airtight tins. After lling and weighing, the cap is soldered on in preparation for the, vital pack process. This consists of removing all the air from the tin and substituting this with carbon dioxide. Cashew nut processing should be encouraged in Nigeria because of the following reasons: 1. Cashew kernel is high-value luxury commodity with sales growing at a steady 7% each year and with every expectation that the market will remain strong [20]. Secondly, there is substantial potential to exploit cashew by-products, such as cashew butter from broken nuts, cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) for industrial and medical purpose and the juice of the cashew apple that can be processed further. 2. Cashew is a good crop for smallholder farmers. It requires few inputs demands for other crops. Processing of cashew nut into cashew kernel locally has the potential to increase the incomes of producers, to create employment opportunity during harvesting and processing, and to increase export. However, as with all processing operations, cashew processing is not without some logistic problems. In order for the processor to succeed, there are certain constraints, which also need to be considered. Exploitation of the bye-products especially cashew kernel requires new technology, which besides being expensive or difcult to obtain, is also high energy consuming. A detailed analysis of energy requirements in cashew processing complex will make these constraints surmountable. To be able to maintain economically sustainable level of production of cashew kernel, the industry will need to substantially reduce the cost of production. In view of this, attempts should be made for higher efciency of utilization of fuel, electricity and labour, these being three major components of manufacturing cost. It would appear that there has not been any study done to determine the energy

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consumption in the processing operations of cashew kernel. Such information is vital to enable the management of cashew nut mills to develop strategies for better control of their production operations. It will also enable them to modify areas of waste and to properly appraise their energy consumption in planning their production activities. There are a few reports on model development of agricultural processing operations. Among these are models developed to predict input energy for sunower oil expression for four seed types [6]. Input energy used in the models included energy consumption of drying, dehulling, grading, grinding, heating and pressing where appropriate. Models have also been developed for vegetable canneries [7], tobacco curing system [8], rice processing [912], beverage production in Nigeria [13], manufacture of tea in India [1416], maize production in Zambia [17], sugar beet production in Morocco [18], energy use in rural Haryana [19] and, energy inputoutput analysis in Turkish agriculture [20]. All these models did not consider energy equations for each processing operation, whereas the objective of the present study is to develop energy equations, with which to assess energy requirements of all processing operations in cashew nut processing as practised in Nigeria.

2. Analysis For consistency, the energy components are calculated on the basis of 1000 kg of raw cashew nut and energy component from each source was estimated using the following procedure: Evaluation of electrical energy. The rated horsepower of each motor was multiplied by the corresponding hours of operation and summed to nd the electrical energy usage by equipment. A motor efciency of 80% was assumed to compute the electrical inputs [21]. Mathematically, Ep Z hPt where Ep P T h electrical energy consumed, kW h rated horse power of motor, kW hours of operation, h power factor (assumed to be 0.8). (1)

Using this procedure, monthly electrical bills for each mill were reconstructed within a 10% error [21]. Evaluation of thermal energy. Energy from fossil fuel was assigned to each unit operation according to their level of consumption. The total quantity of energy consumed from fossil fuel was converted to common energy unit (J) by multiplying the quantity of fuel consumed by the corresponding caloric value (lower heating value) of the fuel used [8,21,22]. Mathematically, EF Z Cf W where EF thermal energy consumed, J Cf caloric value of fuel used, J/l W quantity of fuel used (2)

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Evaluation of manual energy. Manual energy was estimated based on the value recommended by Odigboh [23]. According to Odigboh [23], at the maximum continuous energy consumption rate of 0.30 kW and conversion efciency of 25%, the physical power output of a normal human labour in tropical climates is approximately 0.075 kW sustained for an 810 h workday. All other factors affecting manual energy expenditure were found insignicant and therefore neglected. To determine the manual energy input for a given operation, the time spent by the worker on each operation (from cashew nut cleaning to cashew nut packing) was recorded. This included the intermittent resting periods. For any unit operation, the manual energy expenditure, Em, was determined by: Em Z 0:075NTa kW h where 0.075 the average power of a normal human labour in kW N number of persons involved in an operation Ta useful time spent to accomplish a given task (operation) in hour To access the energy demands (electrical, fuel or manual) in all the eight unit operations of cashew nut production, quantitative data on operating conditions (as contained in Eqs. (1)(3)) were measured. Based on the production technology under study in each mill category as outlined in Fig. 1, the type of the parameters measured for the energy evaluation of each unit operation are detailed in Table 1. 2.1. Development of energy equations The energy consumed in all cashew nut-processing operations was measured and series of equations were developed for each of the unit operations using Eqs. (1)(3). The equations were developed taking into consideration the human labour (manual energy) requirement for handling, machine operation and other associated tasks. Eq. (4) gives typical energy equations written for cleaning operation. Equations written for other unit operations are summarized in Table 2. 2.2. Cashew nut cleaning The energy required for cleaning cashew nut was obtained from the expression: Ec Z 3:6kc Pc tc C 0:075Nc tc ; when electricity is used or Ec Z Wc Cc C 3:60:075Nc tc ; when IC engine is used or Ec Z 3:6kc Pc tc C 0:075Nc tc C Wc Cd ; when both electricity and IC engine are used or Ec Z 3:60:075Nc tc ; when cashewnut cleaning is totally carried out manually (4d) (4c) (4b) (4a) (3)

S.O. Jekayinfa, A.I. Bamgboye / Energy 31 (2006) 13051320 Table 1 Measured parameters for evaluating energy input data in cashew-nut mills S/n 1 Operation Cleaning Required parameters Electrical power, kW Fuel consumed, l Caloric value of fuel used, J/l Time taken for cleaning, h Number of persons involved in cleaning Electrical power, kW Fuel consumed, l Caloric value of fuel used, J/l Time taken for soaking/conditioning, h Number of persons involved in soaking/conditioning Electrical power, kW Fuel consumed, l Caloric value of fuel used, J/l Time taken for roasting, h Number of persons involved in roasting Electrical power, kW Fuel consumed, l Caloric value of fuel used, J/l Time taken for shelling, h Number of persons involved in shelling Electrical power, kW Fuel consumed, l Caloric value of fuel used, J/l Time taken for kernel separation, h Number of persons involved in separation Electrical power, kW Fuel consumed, l Caloric value of fuel used, J/l Time taken for drying, h Number of persons involved in drying Electrical power, kW Fuel consumed, l Caloric value of fuel used, J/l Time taken for peeling, h Number of persons involved in peeling Electrical power, kW Fuel consumed, l Caloric value of fuel used, J/l Time taken for packing, h Number of persons involved in packing

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Soaking or conditioning

Roasting

Shelling

Separation

Drying

Peeling and grading

Packing

The total energy expenditure in producing a given quantity of cashew-kernel is the sum of the energy components involved in each processing operation. Thus the total energy, ET, can be expressed as: ET Z Ec C Esc C Er C Es C Esp C Ed C Epg C Ep (5)

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Table 2 Summary of equations developed for estimating energy requirement for cashew-nut processing operations S/n 1 Processing operations Cleaning Energy components Electricity Fuel Electricity Manual Electricity Fuel Electricity Manual Electricity Fuel Electricity Manual Electricity Fuel Electricity Manual Electricity Fuel Electricity Manual Electricity Fuel Electricity Manual Electricity Fuel Electricity Manual Electricity Fuel Electricity Manual Developed equations EcZ3.6[kcPctcC0.075Nctc] EcZWcCcC3.6[0.075Nctc] EcZ3.6[kcPctcC0.075Nctc]CWcCd EcZ3.6[0.075Nctc] EscZ3.6[kscPsctscC0.075Nsctsc] EscZWscCscC3.6[0.075Nsctsc] EscZ3.6[kscPsctscC0.075Nsctsc]CWscCsc EscZ3.6[0.075Nsctsc] ErZ3.6[krPrtrC0.075Nrtr] ErZWrCrC3.6[0.075Nrtr] ErZ3.6[krPrtrC0.075Nrtr]CWrCr ErZ3.6[0.075Nrtr] EsZ3.6[ksPstsC0.075Nsts] EsZWsCsC3.6[0.075Nsts] EsZ3.6[ksPstsC0.075Nsts]CWsCs EsZ3.6[0.075Nsts] EspZ3.6[kspPsptspC0.075Nsptsp] EspZWspCspC3.6[0.075Nsptsp] EspZ3.6[kspPsptspC0.075Nsptsp]CWspCsp EspZ3.6[0.075Nsptsp] EdZ3.6[kdPdtdC0.075Ndtd] EdZWdCdC3.6[0.075Ndtd] EdZ3.6[kdPdtdC0.075Ndtd]CWdCd EdZ3.6[0.075Ndtd] EpgZ3.6[kpgPpgtpgC0.075Npgtpg] EpgZWpgCpgC3.6[0.075Npgtpg] EpgZ3.6[kpgPpgtpgC0.075Npgtpg]CWpgCpg EpgZ3.6[0.075Npgtpg] EpZ3.6[kpPptpC0.075Nptp] EpZWpCpC3.6[0.075Nptp] EpZ3.6[kpPptpC0.075Nptp]CWpCp EpZ3.6[0.075Nptp]

and fuel

Soaking/conditioning

and fuel

Roasting

and fuel

Shelling

and fuel

Separation

and fuel

Drying

and fuel

Peeling and grading

and fuel

Packing

and fuel

With Eq. (5), it is possible to determine the total energy required in the mill producing cashew nut at a given production rate. For the cashew nut mills under study, the computation of energy use was done using spreadsheet program on Microsoft Excel. This eliminates the need for employing expensive simulation software and for labouring over hand calculations. Furthermore, the computational procedure is easy to follow by any mill operators desiring to compute the energy consumption in each processing operation at any accounting period. The equations will provide baseline information needed for carrying out budgeting, forecasting energy requirements and planning expansion in cashew-nut mills.

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3. Experimental set-up and experimental procedure 3.1. Experimental set-up Prior to the energy models development, the required parameters for evaluating energy utilization in each unit operation of cashew nut processing were measured from nine cashew nut processing mills located in ve southwestern states of Nigeria. The mills randomly selected for case studies were grouped into three categories based on the level of mechanization of their operations. Thus the small mills have less than 50% of their major operations mechanized while in medium and large mills, more than 50 and 75% of their major operations are mechanized. Data were collected from the mills over a period of 6 months to know the energy consumed in every unit operation, and under its various processing conditions (Table 1). The processing facilities of all the selected mills are very similar. All the mills selected were evaluated over the same period and seasons, and as a result, the error of seasonal changes was eliminated. No prior experimental conditions were used as data collection in each locality was done as the mills were in operation. All the mills were less than 10 years old to ensure that they were within their useful years. The apparatus used for the study include: i. A stop watch for measuring production time. ii. A measuring cylinder for quantifying the amount of fuel consumed during each unit operation. iii. A weighing balance for measuring the quantity of cashew nut used in each experimental run.

3.2. Experimental procedure Before the commencement of the experiments, known quantity of fuel was measured into the empty tank of the captive electricity generator in each mill. The initial reading of the electric powerreading meter installed in each section of the mill was taken at this time. After the completion of the processing of 1000 kg of raw cashew nut into edible cashew kernel, the quantity of the fuel left in the generators tank and the nal reading of the electric meter were taken. The differences in these readings represented the quantity of fuel used (in litres) and the electric power consumed (in kiloWatt), respectively. For each of the operations, the number of persons involved was noted and the time taken was also recorded using a stopwatch with all intermittent resting and idle period deducted. From this procedure, it was possible to assign thermal, electrical, both thermal and electrical, or manual energy to each unit operation. Conversion of these raw data to energy equivalents was done using the developed energy equations. 3.3. Sensitivities of the apparatus used and error analysis The sensitivities of the apparatus used in the course of this study are summarised in Table 3. The error analysis was done using the following equation measured value Ktrue value ! 100% true value

error Z

(6)

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Table 3 Sensitivities of apparatus used in the study Equipment Measuring cylinder Stop watch Weighing balance Precision at good maintenance (%) 0.01 0.02 0.03 Accuracy at good maintenance (%) 0.02 0.03 0.05 Accuracy at no good maintenance (%) 0.020.04 0.030.07 0.050.10

4. Results and discussion Analysis of data on total energy consumption by the cashew nut mills provides useful information on the energy sources available to them. From the three categories of cashew nut mills studied, it could be observed that cashew nut processing involves eight readily dened unit operations. Some of these operations are energy-intensive, and an indication of the importance of energy utilization in the overall production system is exemplied by the time and energy-use data in Tables 46 for small, medium and large mill categories, respectively. As indicated in the tables, the selected cashew nut mills consume fuel, electricity and human labour. Fuel is required predominantly for running the process operations, while electricity provides alternative motive power for all process equipment. Figs. 24 were, respectively, constructed for a typical small, medium, and large mill using the modied form of energy accounting symbols presented by Singh [24]. Electrical, thermal and human energy consumption together with the mass ow is assigned to each functional unit. The data (Tables 46) in the three mill categories show large variations in the energy consumption per unit cashew nut processed (energy intensity). Energy-use forecasters and planners often address the question of which production regimes give the minimum energy input for a given quantity of material processed. For this case study, the average energy intensities in the large, medium and small mills were 0.21, 0.42 and 1.161 MJ/kg, respectively. The average total energy consumption per 1000 kg of cashew nut in the small, medium and large cashew nut mills are, respectively, 1161.99, 420.62 and 210.16 MJ. These values allow comparison to be made between energy consumption in various cashew nut mills in different locations within the study area. The result of error analysis carried out shows that the developed
Table 4 Time and energy use data in small-scale cashew nut processing mill Unit operation Cleaning Soaking/conditioning Roasting Shelling Separation Drying Peeling and grading Packaging Total Percent of total Operation time (h) 2.00 3.00 4.00 4.50 4.00 3.50 5.80 1.45 Electrical energy (MJ) 28.80 28.80 2.48 Thermal energy (MJ) 891.8 172.1 1063.9 91.56 Manual energy (MJ) 5.40 8.10 10.8 7.29 6.48 5.83 23.43 1.96 69.29 5.96 Total energy (MJ) 5.40 8.10 902.6 36.09 6.48 177.93 23.43 1.96 1161.99 Percent of total 0.47 0.70 77.68 3.11 0.56 15.31 2.02 0.17

S.O. Jekayinfa, A.I. Bamgboye / Energy 31 (2006) 13051320 Table 5 Time and energy use data in medium-scale cashew nut processing mill Unit operation Cleaning Soaking/conditioning Roasting Shelling Separation Drying Peeling and grading Packaging Total Percent of total Operation time (h) 1.20 1.65 1.70 1.85 1.80 1.65 3.50 0.50 Electrical energy (MJ) 2.00 8.80 0.20 11.00 2.62 Thermal energy (MJ) 2.5 250 5.50 102.10 360.10 85.61 Manual energy (MJ) 2.00 3.20 10.80 7.29 6.48 3.20 16.16 0.39 49.52 11.77 Total energy (MJ) 4.50 5.20 260.80 21.59 105.30 16.16 23.43 0.59 420.62

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Percent of total 1.07 1.24 62.00 5.13 1.54 25.03 3.84 0.14

equations were adequate for estimating the energy requirements in cashew nut processing operations. For instance, for the estimation of total energy in the small cashew nut mills, the mean value of errors between the measured value and true value was 0.208. The standard deviation of the differences was 0.225 with a worst-case error of 0.04. Similar data for medium and large cashew nut mills were 0.418, 0.416, 0.05 and 0.372, 0.405, 0.04, respectively. Using the energy consumption data per 1000 kg of processed cashew nut as contained in Tables 46, the electrical energy intensity may be calculated as 0.029, 0.011 and 0.0052 MJ/kg for small, medium and large mills, respectively. The electrical energy consumption in all the mills represented proportions lower than 3% of the total energy consumption. It is believed that the electrical energy consumption per unit of production is likely to continue increasing but at a slowing rate, as the government of Nigeria gradually disengages from the monopolistic generation, distribution and marketing of electricity from the grid. For thermal energy, obtained from diesel fuel, the corresponding intensity values were 1.064, 0.36 and 0.085 MJ/kg. In all the mill categories, thermal energy represented the largest proportion of the energy intensities (91.56% for large, 85.61% for medium and 85.38% for small). These results are due to epileptic supply of electricity from the national grid in Nigeria. Similar reports have been obtained for
Table 6 Time and energy use data in large-scale cashew nut processing mill Unit operation Cleaning Soaking/conditioning Roasting Shelling Separation Drying Peeling and grading Packaging Total Percent of total Operation time (h) 0.48 0.74 0.77 0.91 0.83 0.78 1.54 0.25 Electrical energy (MJ) 0.90 4.30 5.20 2.47 Thermal energy (MJ) 1.08 100.00 2.64 75.72 179.44 85.38 Manual energy (MJ) 0.80 1.45 4.30 3.28 2.92 2.60 9.37 0.80 25.52 12.14 Total energy (MJ) 1.88 2.35 104.30 10.22 2.92 78.32 9.37 0.80 210.16 Percent of total 0.89 1.12 49.63 4.86 1.39 37.27 4.46 0.38

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Fig. 2. Energy accounting diagram for small-scale cashew nut mill.

palm kernel industry [25] and selected agro-allied industries in Nigeria [26]. Variation in the thermal energy consumption across the mills is due to the differences in the degree of sophistication and ages of processing equipment used. As depicted in Tables 46, processing equipment associated with two unit operations can be identied as energy-intensive, namely roasting and drying. Roasting appears to be the most energy-intensive operation with proportions of total energy consumption more than 77, 62 and 49% in small, medium and large mill categories, respectively. The corresponding values for drying operations are 15, 25 and 37%. Roasting and drying operations alone accounted for over 85% of the total energy consumption in all the mill categories. The noticeable variations in the thermal and electrical energy consumption in the two

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Fig. 3. Energy accounting diagram for medium-scale cashew nut mill.

energy-intensive operations across the mills are undoubtedly due to inattention or lack of concern to energy conservation by the mills management team. Other operational factors, which may explain variations between mills, include age of the equipment installed; cost of energy; type of fuel available and extent to which available plant capacity is used. Miller [27] and Jekayinfa and Bamgboye [25] have made similar observations. The results discussed above on the total energy consumption by a mill are useful to develop energy use proles. Opportunities for energy conservation include modications of the equipment for the two energy-intensive operations, that is, roaster and dryer. The data obtained on the efciencies of roasters and dryer (not reported in this work) indicated average values of 41 and 42%, respectively, in mills belonging to small mill categories. Efciencies of these equipment for mills in medium and large mill categories are, respectively, 45, 47 and 46, 48%. The low efciencies obtained for

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Fig. 4. Energy accounting diagram for large-scale cashew nut mill.

these machines in all the mill categories are not unconnected with long period of usage and improper maintenance schedule. The average total time required for processing 1000 kg of cashew nut in small mill categories was 28 h 15 min. The corresponding time requirements in medium and large categories were 13 h 51 min and 6 h 30 min, respectively. This clearly shows the positive effect of mechanization of process operations on energy and time requirements. Peeling and grading alone accounted for between 20.5 and 25.27% of this total time as a result of predominantly human labour required for it. Other operations following in this order are shelling, roasting, separation, drying, soaking/conditioning, cleaning and packaging. It is

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Fig. 5. Type of energy use by percentage of average total cost in cashew nut processing.

obvious that there is a need for an improved technology that will reduce the energy input and thereby reduce the time of operation. The daily energy bills were analysed during a 15-day period to determine the relative differences in cost of various types of energy. Fuel energy represented about 90% of the energy cost (Fig. 5). The average energy cost for processing cashew nut was calculated to be N100.50 per kilogram of processed cashew nut. 5. Conclusions The following conclusions are drawn from this study: 1. A study was conducted to assess energy consumption in nine cashew nut processing mills located in ve southwestern states of Nigeria. 2. Series of energy equations written for all the eight easily dened unit operations in cashew nut processing were used for analyzing energy consumption in the mills. 3. Results of energy analysis showed that electricity and fuel are two major types of energy sources available to cashew nut processors in the study area. 4. The total energy intensity in the cashew nut mills studied varied between 0.21 and 1.161 MJ/kg. Electrical energy intensity varied between 0.0052 and 0.029 MJ/kg, while thermal energy intensity varied from 0.085 to 1.064 MJ/kg. 5. The two energy intensive operations in cashew nut processing are cashew nut drying and cashew nut roasting, altogether accounting for over 85% of the total energy consumption in all the three mill categories. 6. Thermal energy, obtained from diesel fuel, represented about 90% of the unit energy cost for cashew nut processing. The average energy cost for processing cashew nut was calculated to be N100.50 per kilogram of processed cashew nut.

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References
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