Physical properties of Brazil nuts

Abstract

The Brazil-nut, also known as Para-nut, is widely used as food and in cosmetic industries. The seeds are rich in lipids and protein, and also present a considerable amount of selenium. Limited research has been conducted on postharvest of the Brazil nut, being an important information to design equipment related to aeration, drying, storage and transportation steps. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the physical properties of the Brazil-nut with and without tegument. The dimensions found for the almonds with tegument were 39.35 mm in the X axis, 24.19 mm in the Y axis, and 17.88 mm in the Z axis. However for the almond without tegument the values were 31.05 mm in X, 14.38 in Y and 15.91 mm in Z axis. The sphericity was 66.40% and 51.59% for the kernels with and without seed tegument respectively. The kernels with and without tegument presented sphericity of 63.00% and 47.72% respectively. The mass of 1000 almonds was 6.13 kg for almond with teguments and 3.18 kg for almonds without teguments. Specific mass of 0.947 g.cm-3 and 1.003 g.cm-3 for the kernels with and without tegument, coupled with a porosity of 46.88% and 37.60% and, resulting on a bulk density of 0.504 g.cm-3 and 0.626 g.cm-3 for almonds with and without teguments respectively. Finally, the angle of repose for the kernels with teguments was 36.37°.