CARDAMOM DRYING CASE
Cardamom popularly known as the “Queen of spices”. Today, cardamom commands a leading position among the spices of immense commercial importance and is finding its way into the dietary habits of millions around the world. In cardamom processing drying is the most important role as it affects the quality of the final product. It is also important that the drying process is as short as possible so that the mould does not grow on the capsules and the bright green color its retained.
Drying process of Cardamom
The drying process will determine the quality of dried capsule so it is the most important step for large cardamom processing. Freshly harvested capsule contains 80-85 per cent moisture. Curing is done to lower the moisture content to 10-12 per cent which is safe for storage. The weight ratio from fresh to cured capsule is 4:1 to 5:1.
Drying process is to remove moisture from fresh capsule which keep certain evaporable substances which are the part of essential oil. Drying at too high temperature causes charring of capsules and loss of volatile oil, while too less temperature leads to mould growth. The ideal curing temperature must be 45-55°C.
Geogio heat pump drying solution
It’s a new generation air-source heat pump automatic drying solution, that featured with eco, energy-saving, high efficiency, high quality. The whole drying solution has several parts including heat pump drying machine, fully insulated drying chamber, ventilation system and heat recovery system.
Heat pump heating: the most efficient way to increase the temperature
Geogio heat pump drying machine generate heat from ambient air. It can generate 3-4kW heat when driven by 1kW electricity. So the drying temperature increases 3-4 times faster than conventional heating methods and it saves as much as 70-80 percent of energy.
Exhaust dehumidifying
The system begins with exhaust dehumidifying at the first stage when the chamber humidity is extra high. At the beginning of drying process, the water inside the cardamom is easily taken out by increased temperature. So then exhausting is the most efficient way to take out the moisture from drying chamber.
Heat pump dehumidifying
Geogio heat pump drying machine applies refrigeration system for dehumidifying also. When the temperature reaches set point, it start a independent dehumidification system cycle. It’s proved to be the most efficient method for dehumidifying which widely used conventional space dehumidifying. The moisture is condensed when goes through a evaporator.
Heat recovery: the way to keep heat
To keep the heat inside the drying chamber is the important as heat generating. There are several heat recovery function during the whole heating and dehumidifying cycles.
- Heat recovery during heating: Inside the close drying chamber, the heat is recycled to heat pump drying machine and reheated.
- Heat recovery during exhausting: , the hot wet air is exhausted to outside, and fresh normal air is taken in. However, heat recovery system is applied in order to keep the heat during exhausting. The in-taken fresh air is heated by exhausted hot air, but moisture is exhausted out.
- Heat recovery during heat pump dehumidifying: The electricity which is used to drive the compressor is recovered to the air. So the air temperature is increased again.
Automatic control:
Geogio heat pump drying system is featured with automatic control by applying PLC programmable controller.
The whole drying process can be divided to several phases, max. 20 phases can be programmed by combination of different function, temperature, humidity and time period. Some drying phase to keep the color, some phase to reduce the shrinks, some phase to improve the taste. The whole drying process is automatic by just program and save it in the memory and press “Start”.
