Abstract
The chestnut is a well-blown and important forest product in Korea. The annual production of chestnut is about 95,000 tons and its cultivating area is 80,000 ha. However, the peeling process of outer and inner skins of chestnut is very difficult due to hardness and adhesiveness of chestnut skin. The purpose of this study was to develop a prediction model for flame peeling characteristics of domestic chestnuts, and to evaluate an optimization model to determine the operation conditions of the chestnut flame peeling system. The results of this study were summarized as follows. It was found that the flame peeling characteristics of domestic chestnuts were by the flame temperature, and the flame time. The peeling ratio and the heating depth were increased as the flame temperature and the flame time were increased. The peeling ratio and the heating depth were increased linearly when those were less than 85 % and 2 mm respectively. As the hardness of chestnut shell was decreased, the peeling ratio was increased. A simulation model was developed to predict the peeling ratio and the heating depth based on the hardness of the chestnut shell, the flame temperature, and the flame time of the peeling system. The model was evaluated by comparing the measurement and the prediction of the peeling ratios and heating depths, and showed the good relationship.
