Open AccessCharacteristic of Electrical Power Dissipation of Oil Palm Fruits during Storage Time
Author(s) -
Saktioto Saktioto,
Romi Fadli Syahputra,
Yan Soerbakti,
Andri Saputra,
Syasudhuha,
H. M. Hairi,
Sofia Anita
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
xi'nan jiaotong daxue xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 21
ISSN - 0258-2724
DOI - 10.35741/issn.0258-2724.55.6.11
Subject(s) - palm oil , palm , environmental science , horticulture , yield (engineering) , pulp and paper industry , materials science , chemistry , food science , biology , composite material , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics
Among oil-producing plants, the oil palm produces a high-yield vegetable oil. After the oil palm fruit is harvested as a fresh fruit bunch six to eight months after the flower bloom, the fresh fruit bunch is stored for several days to be collected and transported for manufacture. This storage time can influence the quality and maturity level of the fruit, affecting the yield of crude palm oil. Currently, several methods exist to detect the grade and maturity level of oil palm fruit, such as optical spectroscopy-based and electromagnetic-induced. However, these methods need improvement as they are limited in terms of practical use as well as accuracy. This study proposes a simple four-point probe for the characterization of oil palm fruit during five days when stored under ambient conditions. A direct current power source from a low-voltage battery (~9 V) was applied to produce electric potential in the oil palm fruit. The voltage response shows a distinguished result, directly indicating different storage period. Furthermore, the dissipated power of the first four days dramatically increased from 0.01 to 1.25 µW, and a drop to 0.09 µW was recorded on the fifth day. The estimated capacitance also demonstrates a dropping time, pointing to a change in the internal molecule and cell wall. This result, then, can be employed to detect the level of freshness of the oil palm fruit after harvesting.