Browsing by Author "Silva, S."

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    Production of Edible Copra and the Evaluation of Shelf Life
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2013) Chandranayake, M.R.S.; Chandrasena, G.; Silva, S.
    Short the shelf life and high level of residual sulfur level are the major problem in Sri Lankan Value Added (VA) copra.The acceptable limit of residual sulfur dioxide level in Sri Lanka is 50 ppm (SLS 98:1988). But most of copra manufactured in Sri Lanka contains more t han 100 ppm residual sulfur dioxide levels. Residual sulfur levels allowed in the copra in European Union (EU) is 10 ppm. Therefore it is necessary to reduce residual sulfur level in copra. Another problem in VA copra is short shelf life and changes in color within six month period. Therefore it is necessary to identify the factors limiting shelf life. Production cost of VA copra is high compared with its value in the market. Indirectly heated copra dryers have the ability to produce economical and high quality copra. Therefore this research was done to find out of TPC (total plate count), yeast and mould and during production process and five month storage period, to find out the residual sulfur levels during kiln drying and five storage period, to find out the variation of moisture and temperature of copra during kiln drying and to find out most effective value added treatment like glacial acetic acid and ozone treatment. Methodology The study was carried out at the AdamjeeLukmanjee and Sons (Pvt) Ltd, Colombo 14, Sri Lanka.Residual sulfur dioxide levels were measured by following Standard No: SLS 98 test method. And test was standardized by using Sodium sulfite Na2SO3. Total plate count (TPC) and yeast and mould (Y and M) count were taken by adopting “oxoid” microbiology test methods and SLS 516 part 1 and 2. Study was conducted for residual sulfur dioxide determination, Sodium Meta bi sulfite (SMS) three applications, Glacial acetic acid application (GAA) and Ozone treated copra. For five month shelf life evaluation and for ozone treatment 2013 manufactured vacuum packed VA copra were used. Complete randomized design (CRD) was used. Two trials were conducted in indirectly heated copra dryer which has been installed in Pannala permisis belongs to Adamjee Lukmanjee and Sons (Pvt) Ltd. Performance was evaluated by using operational cost calculation, TPC, Y and M and residual sulfur dioxide calculation.Data was analyzed by MINITAB 16 statistical package.
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    Studies on copra drying for white coconut oil production
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2015) Wijedasa, N. K. W.; Chandrasena, G.; Bandara, S. M. I. P. G.; Silva, S.
    Currently, copra is produced at a relatively small scale using a traditional process which involves a high degree of manual labour. Copra production relatively takes longer time to dry and it is a time consuming process. Sri Lanka, as a copra exporter in the world, it is needed to find out new copra production methods, which give relatively high quality copra in order to produce high quality coconut oil. Therefore it is needed to conduct studies on higher scale production process which is more cost-effective than the current process, and which will give a consistently high quality milling copra. This is to evaluate the effect of de-shelling on the copra drying process compared to previously conducted trials. Therefore de-shelled coconut kernel is to dry in an indirect heated copra dryer in Pannala area which is belong to Adamjee Lukmanjee & Sons (Pvt) Ltd and to obtain good quality product and evaluating the product via standard quality parameters. Methodology Drying experiments were carried out at Adamjee Lukmanjee & Sons (Pvt) Ltd. laboratory and the hot air dryer located at the Pannala area which belongs to Adamjee Lukmanjee & Sons (Pvt) Ltd. The research work was done as two parts. First laboratory scale experiment was done to produce de-shelled copra and the next step was to do a trial run in large scale. In the current study, coconut nuts were de-shelled and separated into three sizes as the cup size, half of the cup and quarter of the cup as three replicates of each treatment. Normal cup size copra was used as the reference. Drying time which takes to remove moisture content upto 6% from the coconut kernel was recorded in each treatment. Then quality parameters of each treatment were evaluated to obtain good quality copra product through the process of drying the de-shelled coconut nuts. These properties such as: Total plate count (TPC), Yeast and mould (Y&M) and Free fatty acid (FFA) content of de-shelled copra was measured by keeping one month period of time under typical storage facilities. Free Fatty Acid levels in each replicates were measured for chemical analysis. Trial was conducted using 10,000 coconut nuts to prepare de-shelled copra. All experimental data with three replicates were analysed with one way ANOVA using Minitab 16 statistical software. All comparisons were based on a 95% confidence interval. Mean comparison was done using Tukey test. Results and Discussion According to the drying time evaluation, there is a significant difference (P < 0.05) with the control sample. Cup copra with the shell gives the highest time to dry out the kernel to 6 % moisture. Free fatty acid content in the de-shelled copra is higher than the reference. This can be due do the removal of the shell. But FFA is at the required level of standard milling copra used to make oil. Total plate count is lower in control treatment. It can be noted that highest TPC resulted in the cup copra without shell. This can be due to the external factors affect during the