Automation of Withering Process in Tea Industry

摘要

Withering is the most critical unit operation in black tea manufacture in India where controlled rate of removal of moisture from green leaf is required to trigger a series of biochemical reactions. These enzymatic changes are ultimately responsible for the production of various bio-chemicals desired for achieving quality parameters in made tea. There has been a long demand for development of appropriate automation system for this important process step of relevance to tea making under Indian agro-climatic conditions. This paper describes the withering trough automation system developed at CEERI under a project supported by Tea Research Association (TRA). At present more than 10 systems are operational at various tea estates in Assam and West Bengal resulting in increased throughput (30%), saving in electrical energy (25%) and uniformity in the quality of withered leaf.