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Amla and gooseberry processing
Amla juice, candy, murabba, dried flakes, powder, seed
Amla and gooseberry processing line by GEM Foodtech, Kolkata, India — capacity 500 kg to 6 tonnes per hour, final yield 17% of raw intake, delivered as a turnkey plant with installation and commissioning worldwide.
The commercial reality
Amla is sold on vitamin C, and vitamin C is the first thing conventional processing destroys. Every design decision on this line — blanch time, drying temperature, deaeration, packaging — exists to hold ascorbic acid in the product you are being paid for.
Process flow diagram
Generated for the standard configuration. Yours is redrawn to your product mix, capacity and site.
Process chart
Every stage with the equipment that performs it, the operating parameter and the control point that decides quality.
| # | Stage | Equipment | Parameter | Control point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Washing and sorting | Fruit and vegetable washer | Bubble washer, inspection belt | Damaged fruit removed |
| 02 | Blanching | Blancher and cooler | Steam, 3–5 min | Segment separation, enzymes inactivated |
| 03 | De-stoning and segmenting | De-stoner | Segment separator | Seed removed intact |
| 04 | Juice extraction | Juice extractor, hydraulic or screw press | Screw press | Juice yield and low oxygen pickup |
| 05 | Deaeration and pasteurising | Deaeration system | Vacuum deaeration then 85 °C hold | Ascorbic acid retention |
| 06 | Candy or murabba route | Tanks, kettles and blenders | Osmotic sugar infusion, staged Brix | Sugar uptake and texture |
| 07 | Drying | Belt dryer and dehydration system | Belt dryer at 55–60 °C | Vitamin C and colour held |
| 08 | Milling and packing | Grinder and pulveriser | Mill to powder, moisture barrier pack | Assay to label claim |
Mass balance
Basis of 1,000 kg of raw material. Change the tonnage below and the whole table rescales.
| Stage | Output, kg/h | Yield | Loss, kg/h | Where the loss goes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amla received | 1,000 | 100% | 0 | — |
| After washing and sorting | 950 | 95% | 50 | Damaged fruit rejected |
| After de-stoning | 840 | 84% | 110 | Seed sold separately |
| Juice extracted | 580 | 58% | 260 | Pomace to drying for powder |
| Dried powder route | 170 | 17% | 410 | Water evaporated |
By-products: Pomace dried into fibre powder; seed sold for oil and propagation — both routes are sold, not discarded.
Equipment schedule
Core machines for this line. Conveying, tanks, CIP and utilities are added to suit the layout.
| Equipment | Capacity range | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit and vegetable washer | Preparation | Removes field soil, latex and surface load with recirculated, filtered water. |
| Blancher and cooler | Thermal | Inactivates enzymes, sets colour, then cools to arrest cooking. |
| De-stoner | Separation | Separates stone and seed from pulp on mango, amla and similar fruit. |
| Juice extractor, hydraulic or screw press | Separation | Presses juice from crushed fruit; cake exits for drying or feed. |
| Deaeration system | Thermal | Strips dissolved oxygen to protect colour, vitamin C and shelf life. |
| Tanks, kettles and blenders | Utility | Jacketed mixing, cooking, holding and batching in SS 304 or 316. |
| Belt dryer and dehydration system | Drying | Multi-zone drying with controlled curve — the GEM core competence. |
| Grinder and pulveriser | Size reduction | Hammer, pin or cryogenic milling to a controlled mesh. |
Questions we get on this line
How much vitamin C survives?
With deaeration and a low-temperature drying curve, retention of 70 to 85% is achievable. Open-pan boiling and sun drying commonly lose more than half.
Juice or powder?
Powder travels better and has a longer shelf life. Juice sells at a higher price where a cold chain exists. Most plants build the front end once and split at the extraction stage.
What capacity range does the amla line cover?
Standard GEM Foodtech builds cover 500 kg to 6 tonnes per hour. Larger duties are engineered to order — the right size is set by the raw material supply through the season, not the nameplate figure.
Is this supplied as a complete turnkey plant?
Yes. The Amla and gooseberry processing line is delivered end to end — feasibility, pilot trial on your own material, engineering, manufacture in Kolkata, installation, commissioning and operator training — or as individual machines to fit an existing plant.
Want this line costed for your tonnage?
Send the raw material specification and the capacity you are targeting. You get a flow diagram, an equipment schedule and a budget number.