A recurrent Elman network in conjunction with an electronic nose for fast prediction of optimum fermentation time of black tea

Tea industries enjoy a significant position in the socio-economic ladder for any demographics, especially in India who is the largest producer as well as consumer of the agro-product. While tea ranks only next to water in the pedigree of globally consumed beverages, the imperative fermentation stage in the processing of tea leaves is conventionally monitored through olfactory perception of tea tasters. Recent advances in the field of machine olfaction have witnessed the advent of electronic nose prototypes, which provide a scientific validation to the organoleptic estimations disseminated by the tasters. However, fermentation is a continuous process requiring constant monitoring whose successful completion relies heavily on identification of distinct aroma peaks emanated at optimum instants. Since the fermentation process is integral to the final quality, it is deemed beneficial if the optimum fermentation period can be predicted at an earlier stage. Such preemptive information can mitigate constant monitoring requirements and momentary concentration lapses. Recognizing the time series nature of the data generated during the fermentation process with an electronic nose prototype, we have implemented a recurrent Elman network to predict the optimum fermentation period for different black tea samples. The results showed that the prescribed network could predict the optimum period with confidence at the halfway of the process. The minimal error between the predicted and the actual fermentation period at the halfway point suggests that the proposed model can well be integrated with an electronic nose dedicated for monitoring the fermentation process.