Effect Of Moisture Content On Physical And Thermal Properties Of Alligator Pepper Pods (Aframomum Nielegueta)

ABSTRACT

The Physical and thermal properties of alligator pepper pods were evaluated in this study. the physical properties of Alligator pepper seed were evaluated as a function of moisture content. This properties are useful in the design of planting, harvesting, processing, handling and storage equipment. Data was analysed using Standard Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Microsoft Excel and summarised into means and standard deviations. It was carried out in the laboratory with different equipment such as vernier calipper, electric oven, weighing balance, aluminium calorimeter. Results shows that there was increase in the axial dimension, Geometric Mean D iameter(GMD), Arithmetic Mean Diameter(AMD), mass diameter, mass of grain, volume with increase in moisture content and a decrease in roundness and bulk density. The static coefficient of friction which increased linearly against surfaces of three structural material namely, wood (0.26 to 0.35), metal (0.24 to 0.31), glass (0.21 to 0.29). The thermal properties determined were density, moisture content, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity and thermal diffusivity at varying temperatures 30°C, 40°C and 50°C. The results obtained showed that there was increase in the thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity with increased moisture content, thermal conductivity is directly proportional to thermal diffusivity while specific heat capacity was observed to be indirectly proportional to thermal diffusivity.