A Study on Processing and Environmental Aspects

The method employed for processing Cashew nuts in study site is "COOKING (STEAM ROASTING) PROCESS".The steam required by the cookers is generated in a vertical fire tube boiler (7kg/cm2 and 50kg/hr.). 25 kilograms of Roasted cashew shell or de-oiled cake is fed manually with shovels at the fire grate of the boiler. The hot combustion gases travel vertically by natural draft created by the stack (12 - 15m high) at the top of the boiler. The flue gas emissions from the boiler are the source of air pollution. Time taken for steam generation is 20 minutes. The process is carried out in the morning hours of the day (6:00 a.m.) A Cylindrical steam cooker with provision of cashew nut feeding at the top and discharging of cooked nuts from the side near bottom, has a capacity of holding 4 bags (80 kg each) of cashew nut in a batch. The cashew shell generated both by cooking process, which is presently used as fuel by the industry, has to go through bio gasification route to convert in to less polluting fuel gas as along-term measure.