Optimal Strategies for Peanut Warehousing

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Team 19

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Austin Scarbrough (ME)

Jin Kim (EE)

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Victoria Clendenning (AG)

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Andrew Clements (AG)

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Mentors: Dr. Camelio & Dr. Morkos

12/6/21

Background/Introduction/Project Plan

Premium Peanut has asked our group to to identify optimal strategies for loading peanuts into warehouses with a focus on the amount of time in between packing loads into the warehouses, the shape of the peanut piles and how each variable affects the moisture level and temperature inside the piles. This project will be a step towards solving the issues caused by aflatoxin in the peanut industry, as reducing the moisture content in less time minimizes aflatoxin production.

Customer Needs: To determine the optimal strategy for loading peanuts into warehouses for maximum profits.

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The overall loss of value for peanuts moving along the supply chain averages over $30 / farmer stockton, or between 5-10% of the overall profit, representing the potential opportunity for this project.

Design Objectives

3 Main Objectives:

• How quickly does the temperature and moisture within a peanut pile stabilize after being loaded?
• What is the best structure for piling peanuts?
• How long should there be in between loading piles into the warehouses?

Once we have a sufficient amount of data collected from the sensors, we will design a model to numerically analyze the information collected so that we can determine answers to the objectives above

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Customers/Stakeholders and their Requirements

Internal Stakeholders:

• Members of Capstone Group 19 (Austin, Jin, Andrew, Victoria)
• Members of the “Examining Warehouse Environmental Conditions” Group
• Project Mentors: Dr. Camelio, Dr. Morkos, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Moore, Dr. Hilten, Dr. Pidiparti
• Premium Peanut: Ms. Raegan Holton

External Stakeholders:

• Premium Peanut Employees
• University of Georgia
• The Peanut Processing Industry as a whole

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Customer Requirements: Design for moisture sensor layout, data concerning peanut drying rates, recommendations about how long to wait between loading piles of peanuts

Engineering Specifications

Sensors

• Remain buried in peanuts for up to 9 months without human interaction and little air flow
• Endure temperatures of up to 110^o F
• Allow Bluetooth connectivity for collection of data (max range of 25 ft.)
• Continuously record and store data about moisture levels and temperatures inside peanut piles

Analysis of data

• Making code to organize and analyze the data from the sensors (Maybe an application do this)
• Code must be able to sort through massive amounts of data
• 85 sensors will be recording data every hour for months
• Must allow our team to determine if the conclusions of our study are statistically significant

Benchmarking

Currently, there aren’t any existing designs that achieve what Premium Peanut is asking our team to determine.

Current Alternatives to Reduce Aflatoxin Production:

• Some companies use fans to circulate air around the top of warehouses in an attempt to improve moisture dissipation
• The use of chemical treatments such as acetosyringone, syringaldehyde and sinapinic acid and ammonia applications during post‐harvest to reduce both fungal growth and toxin production
• Some companies use “grain peaking” to help circulate air flow throughout piles.

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Although these methods are generally thought to be effective, there is no data to support or measure their effectiveness

Design Concepts

1. This concept will be based on placing the sensors at varying height at the same location in the 2 different types of warehouses (Flat vs. Conventional)
2. This concept will be based on placing the sensors at varying locations at the same height in the 2 different types of warehouses (Flat vs. Conventional)
3. This concept will be based on placing the sensors combination of varied depth and varied locations

New Knowledge Development

Exploratory Research done by the team that contributed to the design process

Peanut Drying/Warehousing:

• USDA inspector determines the meat content, size of pods (for Virginia & Valencia), damaged kernels, foreign material, and kernel moisture content. Once the grade is established, the loan or commercial value is determined from USDA price support schedules. Peanuts must be dried, or cured, to ensure the moisture content does not exceed 10.5 percent, to ensure quality is preserved and to prevent growth of microbes naturally present in farm fields
• There are different levels of acceptable aflatoxin levels based on the intended use of the peanuts (human consumption vs. other applications), and what country the peanuts will consumed/used. These levels are set by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Aflatoxins:

• Aspergillus fungus develops when peanut plants are water stressed in heavy drought conditions. Peanuts are tested upon arriving at buying points and separated into red, blue, and green warehouses based on aflatoxin score. These warehouses are sold at different price points and to different industries.
• Moisture levels during the growing season can greatly affect aflatoxin levels during harvesting. If the peanuts experience extended periods of low precipitation they can undergo “drought-stress” and their shells can will become more brittle. This makes it easier for the aflatoxins to penetrate the outer shells and infect the peanuts.

Sensors:

• The sensors we will be using emit low-power microwaves into the piles of peanuts to capture an “electronic signature” based on the reflected microwaves. This signature is processed through a moisture algorithm to determine the moisture content of the peanuts.

Project Planning for Spring Semester

• Visiting premium peanut to install/reinstall the sensors will be scheduled with the client