Influência da carga do secador rotativo “pinhalense” na eficiência de secagem e na quebra de amêndoas de cacau.

Abstract

The “Pinhalense” rotary drier, was adapted, by the end of the seventies, to cacao drying, after study and recommentation by CEPLAC, dividing the rotary cylinder into two compartiments by a transversal wall, aiming the minimun bean breakage and the maximum efficiency of the drying system; later, however, it appears in the regional market unities of this drier without such adaptation, and with the argument that no relevant difference occours in the drying results. The present study was carried out just to clarify this situation; loads from 1.800 kg of fresh fermented beans, incremented by 300 kg up to 2.700 kg (maximum capacity) were tested. The results showed that the breakages were smaller and the drying efficiency higher when the two compartiments were used than when only the bigger was used.