PULSE PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

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