PULSE PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

The year 2016 was declared "International PulseYear" by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Pulse is cheap, highquality source of vegetable protein, rich in starch and dietary fiber, high indigestibility, free of gluten, low in fat, low in cholesterol and low inglycemic index. When properly and regularly consumed, it is effective on manydiseases. Cleaning, the first process in pulp processing technology, is carriedout in fixed and mobile cleaning devices in order to improve the physicalproperties of the products and to remove foreign materials. Dry cleaning isapplied as coarse separation, fine separation, magnetic separation, pod peelingand stone separation. In coarse separation, coarse sieve, aspirators (aspiratorsieve, duo aspirators, classification aspirators), cylindrical sieves,scalperators (drum, vibro, circular) and selectors; in fine separation, siloaspirator purifier, mill aspirator purifier and trieurs are used. In magneticseparation, the metal parts in the pulses are caught by magnets. Rubbing andfriction movements result in the outer pod of the product to be removed, whilestone separators are used for removal of stone. Clean product is subjected tocalibration which is carried out with screening machines to obtain ahomogeneous structure and to standardize the product in terms of cooking timefor the final consumer. Pulses then are subjected to sorting according to thecolor and hand sorting. A computer sorting system is used based on color whilehand sorting is performed by selectors on both sides of the selection band toremove foreign and defective particles under hygienic conditions. Finally, thepulses are packed through a metal detector to remove metal parts. Cellophane,polyethylene (PE) pieced cardboard boxes, polyethylene bags are usually used asthe packaging materials. Volumetric filling system and vertical type packagingmachines are generally preferred. The shelf life of pulses is about two years.