Mango leather production process

Fruit leathers are dried sheets of fruit pulp which have a soft, rubbery texture and a sweet taste. They can be made from most fruits, although mango, apricot, banana and tamarind leathers are amongst the most popular.They may be eaten as snack foods as a healthy alternative to boiled sweets and also used as

Rice flour production process

  

Cleaning: - removes foreign objects, such as hey, straw, stone, tree stump, and snail shell, from the paddy and prevents dust from getting mixed in the whitened rice for the enhancement of the value of rice flour as well as to prevent malfunctioning of the following process due to the mixing of dust.

Corn flakes production process

The milling process removes the corn kernels from the cobs and turns them into flaking sized 'grits'. Malted barley can be added to enhance the flavor of the Corn Flakes. The corn grits are cooked in steam pressure cookers, at temperatures exceeding 100C. This cooking process lasts for an hour and softens the hard grits. During cooking additional water is incorporated in the form of steam which condenses and the water content in the batch rises to 30-35%. Then the hot grits are transported from the cookers to large driers via the network of pipes. The grits spend several hours in the hot-air driers in order to reduce their moisture content. The corn grits are milled using rollers, which squeeze the grits flat.

Corn flakes production video

The flakes are then tumble toasted in huge cylindrical ovens. The air in the ovens is heated by 600C⁰

Confectionery production process

The production process of producing a good quality candy involves the following. First of all sugar, glucose syrup are dissolved in water and boiled to 145C⁰. Then color is added and the boiling process continues until the temperature reaches 150C⁰. The boiling sugar syrup is then poured immediately on an oiled slab. After a little cooling, citric acid, flavor and color are quickly kneaded into the whole mass. The material is fed into a roller machine to obtain boiled sugar drops which are packed in plastic films after sprinkling starch.

Spices production process (dry grinding)

Spices can be ground with two different methods: dry grinding and wet grinding. The process in dry grinding follows cleaning, sun-drying, pulverizing, screening and packaging steps. In wet grinding the process is cleaning, wet grinding, screening, spray drying and packaging.

The process of dry grinding is very simple which starts from the procurement of whole spices sent to the grinding process where mixing is also carried out. Mixed spices are stored in tanks or large sized tumblers from where it is shifted to the packaging machines to be converted into desired packet sizes.

Unlike a manufacturing concern, a spices business has a very basic process flow diagram

Frozen vegetable processing technology

Frozen vegetables are commercially packaged vegetables that are sold in the frozen section of the store usually packaged in either rectangular boxes or plastic bags.

The production process of frozen vegetables includes harvesting (picking), sorting, washing, cutting, blanching, packing and freezing.

The technology of frozen vegetables oriented itself in three directions:

Glucose production process

Raw Materials

The raw materials required for the plant include maize starch, activated carbon, soda-ash, HCL acid, and water.

• Maize Starch
• Activated Carbon
• Soda-ash
• HCl Acid
• Water
• Packaging Material
• Electricity
• Fuel Oil
• Process and Potable Water

Slurry of starch of about 60 % water is prepared and treated with HCL acid in a converter where the reaction takes over at 150 ⁰C and maintained for 15 minutes. The treated slurry is then transferred to wooden vats where it is neutralized with soda-ash solution. Then it is filtered and further refined by activated carbon. Then it passes through a vacuum evaporator where it gets the required concentration. After being cooled the liquor is packed ready for shopping

Alternatively, maltose syrup and high-DE glucose syrups can be produced by two-stage acid/enzyme or enzyme/enzyme saccharification process.

Machinery and Equipment

• Slurry preparation tank
• Converter
• Glow tank
• Wooden vat
• Filter press
• Refining vessel
• Vacuum evaporator
• Pumps

Soy Sauce Brewing

Raw Materials

The three main ingredients used in the production of soya sauce are soya bean, wheat, and salt.

Soyabean (or defatted soyabean): the most important raw material for soya sauce protein, is heated by steam so that soya sauce koji of Aspergillus Oryzae will easily work on protein.  The quality and yield (Availability of nitrogen in raw material to product) of soya sauce are swayed by this treatment. High temperature, high pressure, short time treatment will greatly improve the quality and yield of the product. After being steamed, the soya bean is cooled in a cooler down to the designated temperature.

Wheat: another important raw material of soya sauce is heat treated indirectly to produce alfa-starch so that enzyme will work on it easily. Usually heated sand is used for roasting the wheat, then the wheat is cooled in a cooler to the designated temperature, and finally the wheat is crushed by a crusher.

The two kinds of treated raw material are seeded and taken into the koji room. The treatment and humidity are controlled artificially to promote growth of koji fungus, and koji is made in two days. 

Salt: the third raw material of soya sauce, is dissolved in water to make saturated solution of salt. After adjusting the concentration of the saturated solution of salt made it is cooled in a refrigerator to the designated temperature. Then it is mixed with the koji and fermented in the fermentation tank.

The koji and solution of salt fermented in the fermentation tank become moromi (soyabean and wheat which are under fermentation). The moromi is kept under control for a long period of time in a suitable temperature so that it is matured by the action of enzyme, lactobacilli, yeast fungus, etc.

The matured moromi is pressed and separated into raw soya sauce and cake. The raw soya sauce is cooled in a refrigerator and stored in low temperature. The raw soya sauce is sweetened or other additives are added, depending on the tastes of consumers. It is pasteurized by heating and then stored for a fixed period of time for sediment separation. 

Next, the clear soya sauce is further filtered through a filter and made into beautiful, highly fragrant, and tasty soya sauce. Finally, the completed soya sauce is filled in glass bottles or plastic containers by the bottling machine, labeled, and dispatched. The production process does not have any adverse impact on environment.

Raw Materials

1. Raw material storage
2. Soyabean treatment
3. Wheat treatment
4. Mixing and heaping
5. Automatic koji making equipment
6. Koji mixing and transporting
7. Salt water dissolving equipment
8. Moromi fermenting
9. Moromi pressing equipment
10. Raw soya sauce storage
11. Cooling equipment
12. Pasteurization and filtration
13. Automatic bottling equipment
14. Boiler

Sugar from sugar cane: Production process with flowsheet

The bulk of sugar cane is cut by hand (manually) with a cane knife but sometimes mechanical cutting is also being practiced in some other countries. The cut sugar cane is then loaded to vehicles and transported to the mill. At the first end of the factories the cane is usually weighted, washed and chopped in to smaller pieces before the cane is feed to mills (Tandems) for juice extraction.

Juice extraction is mostly done by passing the chopped cane through a series of rollers or horizontal mills. The rollers are laid in a triangle which are supported by a mill housing made of cast iron or cast steel.

The prime objective in sugar cane milling is to extract the greatest possible amount of sucrose from sugar cane, and to make the final bagasse as dry as possible so that it will burn readily in the boilers.

The tandems are a train of mills preceded by various combinations of cane preparation devices. The power required by the mills is obtained from steam turbines followed by gear boxes for speed reduction.

During the last few years diffusers have been installed in various sugar factories instead of mills. This new method of extracting sugar from sugar cane has proved advantageous from the technical point of view. Diffusion has been accepted as an efficient way of achieving high extraction. The capital investment and maintenance costs of diffusers are lower than those of mills but the moisture of the bagasse obtained here is high hence reducing boiler efficiency.

Animation of the production process here (Parrys sugar)

Next to this important process, juice extraction, the raw cane juice is weighted and carried to liming process. The fibrous part called bagasse is transported to furnaces for burning. The liming station of the cane juice is one of the most important stations in a raw-cane sugar factory. Raw sugar cane juice is composed of a great number of organic and inorganic compounds, acids, salts etc in varying amounts. When it comes from the mill tandem, the juice is an opaque liquid varying in color from greenish-gray to dark green, and it carries suspended matter such as fine bagasse (bagacillo), gums, albumin, wax, coloring matter, particles of soil sand clay and muck. The normal cane juice has PH 5.2 – 5.4.

The gums, wax and albumin make the raw sugar juice rather viscous and it cannot, therefore, be readily filtered when cold. Liming and heating causes many impurities in the juice to become coagulated and precipitated out. At the same time the acids are neutralized and any phosphates present are flocculated, adsorbing a large amount of coloring matter, solids and other impurities. Usually the lime is added to the raw sugar cane juice in the form of milk of lime, for better dispersion and quicker reaction.

Sugar production video

The next process after liming of sugar cane juice is clarification. Without good clarification of sugar cane juice, the production of good quality raw sugar is impossible. The purpose of clarification is the precipitation and removal of all possible non sugars, (organic & inorganic) and the preservation of the maximum sucrose and reducing sugars possible in the clarified juice.

The greatest part of sugar cane consists of soluble inorganic compounds or ashes. A certain amount of fiber, mainly cellulose, also remains in sugar cane juice after crushing, which passes through the cush-cush screen in the form of bagacillo. The raw cane juice is generally limed to PH 8 in order to obtain clarified juice of about PH 6.8-7.2 clarified juice is concentrated to a syrupy consistency before it is sent to the vacuum pans to be crystallized in to raw sugar. The concentrate is made in several evaporators connected in series called a multiple effect. The juice travels from one vessel to another because of the gradual increase of vacuum. The vapors obtained in each body of the multiple effects serve to heat the calanderia tubes and to evaporate additional water in the following vessel.

And after being evaporated in a multiple effect evaporator to be a syrupy consistency, clarified juice must be evaporated further for the sugar to crystallize. This is accomplished in a vacuum to form a heavy mixture of crystals and mother liquor, called massecuite.

The raw sugar massecuite is then crystallized by cooling. On this process residual syrup incapable of crystallizing called black strap molasses is separated. Finally Batch & continuous centrifugals are used to separate the liquid and hard phases of raw sugar.

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Candy Making ¨Process

The production process of producing a good quality candy involves the following. First of all sugar, glucose syrup are dissolved in water and boiled to 145C⁰. Then color is added and the boiling process continues until the temperature reaches 150C⁰. The boiling sugar syrup is then poured immediately on an oiled slab. After a little cooling, citric acid, flavor and color are quickly kneaded into the whole mass. The material is fed into a roller machine to obtain boiled sugar drops which are packed in plastic films after sprinkling starch.

The alternative technology of production is commonly known as extrusion cooking.  This technology has led to the creation and development of numerous products. Extrusion cooking is carried out with a double screw conveyor, i.e. two infinite screw vises rotating in the same direction. In the process, powdered ingredients such as cereal flours, sugar, or cocoa, as well as processed liquids and possibly fat and emulsifiers are measured out and premixed before being introduced into the extruder. Then the mix is submitted to a thermo mechanical process (combined effect of pressure and temperature) generating a cooked mixture that is then forced through a tube. This technology, however, is used mainly in the production of breakfast cereals (also called ready-to-eat cereals). In addition, the investment cost is very much higher when compared to the technology adopted by the envisaged plant.

Mushrooms production process

Mushroom cultivation can be carried out in areas where the temperature is between 15-30^oC and the temperature of Addis Ababa falls in the aforementioned range of temperature.   In addition to this the humidity of the city highly favors the cultivation of mushroom. 

The production process of the commercially important mushrooms is summarized as follows.

1.                  Composting: - Compositing for mushrooms takes 28-30 days.  During this period the compost is turned over 8 times.  Cotton seed and wheat bran will be used to prepare the compost

2.                  Seeding: - seeding the compost with mushroom culture (spawn) is called spawning.  The spawn will be spread on treated compost on wooden racks/boxes.   In general, each rack or box should have 1 m² size.  The racks will be covered with waste newspaper after sterilizing them in formalin one week before use or steaming for 30 minutes at 20 lbs in an autoclave. Six to seven days after seeding, thread like growth of mushroom mycelium can be seen which covers the whole surface of compost in 12-18 days.

3.                  Casing soil: - After removing the papers, the compost surface is covered with casing soil.  Covering the compost surface with casing soil helps in maintaining moisture gas exchange for growing mushrooms.  Casing soil should be free from diseases and insect pests and its PH should be 7.5-7.8.  The mixture of animal manure (2 years old) and garden soil or spent compost could be used as casing soil.  Casing soil can be treated with formalin.  After making a pile of casing soil and mix it with a 4% solution of formalin and cover it with a polythene sheet.  The sheet will be removed and the soil will be turned everyday for 3-4 days and so that the casing soil becomes free from the odour of formalin.  Casing soil can also be treated with steam at 55^oC for 6-8 days.  A 4 cm layer of casing soil should be spread over the compost and then it will be sprayed with a 2% solution of formalin.  The crop room should have a temperature of 15-18^oC and relative humidity of 80-85%. Spray water over the casing soil once or twice a day.

4.                  Harvesting: - Mushroom heads start coming after 12-18 days of casing.  The mushrooms will be harvested by twisting them between the fingers.  In order to get better quality mushrooms, the mushrooms should be harvested before their caps start opening.  Mushrooms have a very short shelf-life.  They should be stored without washing in paper envelopes kept in plastic bags to prevent moisture loss and are stored in refrigerators.

Besides these, mushroom cultivation has no negative impact on the environment; rather the spent from the farm can be utilized further for vegetable production.

Mushroom business profile in Ethiopia

Milk powder production

Production Process

On arrival at the center, the milk is tested for hygiene and adulteration using organoleptic and lactometer readings. Milk is weighed using graduated aluminum milk gauges and a volume-based payment is made to suppliers. Then the collected milk will be transported to the plant. This process is designed for both the reception of milk in cans as well as in road tankers. After reception, the milk is filtered and cooled. The production process involved with milk powder plant is discussed as follows. After reception of the milk, it is filtered and cooled down to 6 Celsius and stored in a raw milk storage tank. The milk, transported to the plant by means of road tankers is additionally pulled through a degasser to remove air from the milk. From the storage tank the milk is transferred to the first section of a pasteurizer, to give the product the required temperature for standardizing and clarifying.

The standardized milk is now returned to the pasteurizer for pasteurization and recoiling. The product cooled to 6 Celsius is then stored in storage silos. Some vitamins are added where sugar can be added to the silos on request. The silos are provided with high energy mixers to ensure that the sugar will be completely dissolved. By a transfer pump the standardized milk is then fed through pre heaters, a regeneration section and a pasteurizer to the first effect of a four-effect falling film evaporator. In this section the milk is concentrated to 47% total solid or, when sugar is added, to about 52.5% total solid. The concentrate is then filtered and by a high pressure pump transferred to the atomizer nozzles of the spray dryer. The concentrate is atomized into hot drying air. The hot air evaporates the water contained in the atomized concentrate. The milk powder leaves the spray dryer to a two stage fluid bed drying and cooling unit for the final drying. Between the two stages of the drying and cooling unit a lecithin dosing system is provided. The lecithin gives the milk powder the instant quality. From the dryer and cooler the milk powder is conveyed to a packaging section. The milk powder is then packed by a volumetric-type filling machine into cans.

The alternative technology is designed to reduce the loss of the output emanating from high heat treatment of the milk and the subsequent evaporation.