Sesame seeds are an agricultural produce, which are mainly cultivated in India, China, Burma, Sudan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzannia, Thailand etc. There is a substantial export market, with the European Countires, Janpan and certain Gulf countries being the bulk buyers. Sesame seeds have a thin shell or husk which needs to be removed and this process is known as dehulling. The weight of hull is about 17% of total weight of sesame seed. The hull contains a great deal of oxalic acid and indigestive fibre. Oxalic acid can reduce biological utilization ratio of Ca in Food and influence taste. After dehulling, oxalic acid can reduce from 3% to 0.25% in sesame seeds, which improve the protein digestibility greatly. So, dehulling of sesame seeds is the precondition of enlarging application of sesame in food field. Hulled sesame seeds are softer and tastier than unhulled seeds. Sesame seeds are also an excellent source of unsaturated fatty acids and phytosterols.

           Wet Dehulling Process

Wet Dehulling Process is compared with dry dehulling process. Dry dehulling process is that dry the sesame seeds after cleaning at a certain level, which can dehydrate the moisture in hull quickly and be brittle. Then use clash dehulling method, the hulls are peelled from sesame seeds. The dry process is short in technology line, few investment in equipments but low at dehulling rate, easily get yellow or brown even burnt at high temperature. So, for commodity use, dry method is not commonly used in processing sesame seeds, generally, only for little quantity self-use in some foodstuff factories.  

A wet dehulling process has has been developed for easy removal of the husk from the sesame seed. The process of dehulling consists of preliminary cleaning and grinding, hot lye treatment, removal of the skin and pigments, thorough washing and drying. The dehulled seed is expelled to get high grade oil.

The cake is further expelled to recover the residual oil and protein-rich meal. The protein-rich sesame cake flour finds multiple uses in protein fornication of food preparations. The dehulled sesame seeds and flour offer good potential for both domestic and export markets.

A process has also been developed for washing of white sesame seeds to produce confectionery grade product. Brilliant white seeds are produced, which is known as hulled sesame seeds.

           Process Flow For Complete Hulled Sesame Plant

Cleaning Workshop                            Hulled Sesame Seeds Workshop 

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Raw Material→ Sieving→ Gravity De-stoning→ Soaking→ Dehulling→ Separating→ Dehydrating

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Polluted water for Decontamination

→ Drying→ Fine Sort→ Magnetic Separation→ Color Sort→ Packing→ Storage

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Hulled Sesame Seeds Workshop