MENA Industrial Systems

Project Snapshot

  • Client Profile: National Food Manufacturing & Halawa/Condiment Distribution Group
  • Location: MODON 2nd Industrial City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
  • Project Scope: End-to-End Turnkey Engineering — 2D AutoCAD Hygienic Plant Layout, Closed-Loop Brine Recovery Engineering, Custom Equipment Sourcing, Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), and On-Site Commissioning
  • Rated Line Capacity: 1,000 kg/hour (1 Ton/Hour) Continuous Sesame Processing & Milling (8–10 Tons per shift)
  • Packaging Formats:
    • Retail Consumer Line: 250g, 400g, and 800g Wide-Mouth PET/PP Jars & Squeeze Bottles (3,000 – 4,500 Jars/Hour)
    • HORECA & Industrial Line: 5 kg, 10 kg, and 18 kg Food-Grade PP Buckets/Pails (180 – 300 Pails/Hour)
  • Product Types: 100% Pure Hulled White Tahini (Lebanese/Gulf Style) & Roasted Golden Red Tahini
  • Regulatory Compliance: SFDA (Saudi Food & Drug Authority), MODON Environmental Standards, SASO, GSO, and ISO 22000 / HACCP

1. Executive Summary & Project Challenge

A food manufacturing group based in Riyadh contracted MENA Industrial Systems to design, engineer, and supply a fully automated 1,000 kg/hour turnkey tahini production and packaging facility in Riyadh’s MODON 2nd Industrial City.

Transitioning from semi-manual stone-mill workshops to an industrial-scale, SFDA-compliant factory required solving four critical engineering challenges:

  1. Preventing Oil Separation (Syneresis) While Scaling Output: Traditional basalt/corundum stone mills produce an authentic, creamy mouthfeel, but have low individual output (100–150 kg/hr) and uneven particle distribution. Conversely, standard high-speed steel colloid mills generate excessive frictional heat (>75°C), which denatures sesame proteins, scorches the paste flavor, and triggers rapid free-oil separation on supermarket shelves.
  2. Water Scarcity & MODON Brine Discharge Regulations in Riyadh: Wet sesame hulling relies on high-salinity brine (sodium chloride solution) for specific-gravity kernel separation. Operating an open-drain wet peeling line in Riyadh’s inland desert environment would consume excessive municipal water and violate MODON industrial wastewater salinity limits.
  3. Salmonella Cross-Contamination Control: Raw agricultural sesame seeds carry high microbiological risk. Once sesame seeds are wet-peeled and thermally roasted, any exposure to raw seed dust or floor moisture in the milling and filling rooms creates a severe Salmonella hazard under SFDA audits.
  4. High-Viscosity, Abrasive Paste Filling (250g to 18kg): Tahini is a non-Newtonian suspension of abrasive sesame solids in oil. Without continuous thermal-jacketed agitation and precision anti-drip nozzles, filling lines suffer from weight drift, sedimentation, and oil drips on jar rims that cause aluminum induction seals to fail during hot Saudi summer transport.

The MENA Industrial Systems Solution:
Our engineering teams in China and Saudi Arabia developed a Hybrid Stone-Pre-Grinding + Chilled Two-Stage Colloid Milling System that achieves a 20–25 micron (600–800 mesh) particle fineness while keeping paste temperatures strictly below 52°C. We paired this with an AISI 316L Closed-Loop Brine Filtration & Recycling Skid (cutting water and salt consumption by 65%) and a 5-zone positive-pressure hygienic factory layout engineered for Saudi Arabia’s 380V / 60Hz grid.

2. Phase I: Raw Material Engineering, Rheology & Packaging Standardization

Before finalizing machinery specifications, MENA Industrial Systems established the raw material and packaging parameters with the client’s food technologists:

  • Sesame Seed Selection & Yield Engineering: The line was calibrated to process both Sudanese (Gadaref) / Ethiopian (Humera) white sesame seeds (prized for creamy white tahini) and Indian hulled/natural varieties, with raw seed oil content ranging between 48% and 54% and initial moisture <6%. Accounting for hull weight loss (~12–14%) and moisture evaporation during roasting, 1,150 kg/hr of raw sesame infeed yields a net 1,000 kg/hr of finished tahini.
  • Colloidal Stability Target (D₉₀ < 25 μm): By engineering a two-stage chilled milling curve that reduces 90% of solid particles below 25 microns without exceeding 52°C, natural sesame lecithin and proteins remain intact—creating a stable colloidal suspension that resists oil separation for 12 to 18 months without artificial chemical emulsifiers (E471).
  • Container & Neck Standardization:
    • Retail Formats (250g, 400g, 800g): Standardized around a unified 63mm and 82mm wide-mouth neck finish for PET/PP jars, plus a 38mm flip-top neck for inverted squeeze bottles. Standardized neck rings minimize capping chuck and induction-sealing coil adjustments.
    • Bulk Formats (5 kg, 10 kg, 18 kg): Heavy-duty injection-molded PP pails with tamper-evident tear-bands and internal O-ring lid seals to prevent oil leakage during pallet stacking.

3. Phase II: 2D AutoCAD Factory Layout & SFDA Hygienic Zoning

To meet strict SFDA and ISO 22000 food safety requirements for low-moisture foods, our industrial systems engineers drafted a 1,800 m² 2D AutoCAD Facility Layout (minimum 6.0m clear ceiling height) featuring strict Wet-to-Dry and Raw-to-Roasted Physical Segregation.

5-Zone Hygienic Architecture (Salmonella Barrier Design)

  1. Zone A — Raw Sesame Intake & Dry Pre-Cleaning Hall (250 m²): Isolated at the raw warehouse receiving bay under slight negative air pressure with a centralized pulse-jet baghouse dust collector. Houses the dumping hopper, vibratory sifters, destoner, and magnetic separator so agricultural dust never enters the processing plant.
  2. Zone B — Wet Soaking, Friction Peeling & Brine Separation Hall (220 m²): Constructed with acid-and-salt-resistant epoxy flooring, 2% slope to stainless-steel trench drains, and full AISI 316L equipment. Houses the soaking tanks, mechanical peelers, brine separation bath, closed-loop brine recovery skid, and centrifugal dewaterers.
  3. Zone C — Thermal Drying, Optical Sorting & Roasting Hall (280 m²): High-ventilation thermal zone equipped with insulated exhaust stacks and heat-recovery hoods. Houses the continuous seed dryer, bichromatic optical color sorter, rotary drum roasters, and rapid pneumatic cooling cyclones. The roaster discharge acts as the Critical Control Point (CCP) microbiological kill-step.
  4. Zone D — High-Care Positive-Pressure Milling & Filling Cleanroom (350 m²): A strictly dry, ISO Class 8 positive-pressure (+15 Pa) HEPA-filtered enclosure with PU sandwich panels and zero open floor drains (dry-cleaning protocol to eliminate moisture-borne pathogen harborage). Contains the hybrid milling stations, vacuum deaerator, jacketed homogenizing tanks, and both the retail jar and bulk pail filling lines up to the capping/induction sealing stage.
  5. Zone E — Secondary Packaging, Palletizing & Utility Rooms (700 m²): Houses external jar labeling, laser date coding, automatic carton packing, pallet stretch wrapping, and isolated utility rooms (air compressors, process water chillers, and steam/thermal-oil boilers).

4. Phase III: Machinery Selection & Sourcing Strategy

MENA Industrial Systems sourced each processing module from specialized food-machinery manufacturers in China under our Component & Metallurgy Standardization Mandate:

  • AISI 316L Anti-Corrosion Metallurgy: Standard SS304 rapidly pits and corrodes when exposed to warm 15% sodium chloride brine during sesame peeling. MENA mandated molybdenum-stabilized AISI 316L stainless steel for all soaking vessels, brine separators, peeling rotors, and wet piping, and AISI 304/316L with polished sanitary welds (Ra ≤ 0.6 μm) for all paste-contact surfaces.
  • Saudi Electrical Grid Adaptation: All drive motors, heating elements, VFDs, and control transformers were custom-manufactured for Saudi Arabia’s 380V, 60Hz, 3-Phase power supply.
  • Automation & Drives: Standardized on Siemens S7-1500 PLC central line control with bilingual (Arabic/English) HMI touchscreens, SEW-Eurodrive high-torque gearmotors, Schneider Electric low-voltage switchgear, and Festo pneumatics.
  • Sanitary Paste Pumping: Replaced standard centrifugal pumps with Food-Grade Sanitary Rotary Lobe Pumps equipped with VFD speed control and heated/insulated transfer pipes to pump viscous tahini gently without shear-heating.

5. Phase IV: Complete Stage-by-Stage Process & Equipment Breakdown

Stage 1: Raw Sesame Dry Cleaning, Destoning & Magnetic Protection

  • Dust-Free Dumping Station & Low-Speed Bucket Elevator: Raw 25kg/50kg sesame bags (or 1-ton jumbo bags) are emptied into a grated floor hopper fitted with an active dust-extraction hood. A gentle Z-type bucket elevator lifts seeds without mechanical breakage.
  • Multi-Deck Vibratory Classifier & Aspirator (1,500 kg/hr): Triple-deck oscillating screens separate oversized foreign matter (twigs, pods, stones) and undersized sand/silt, while an adjustable vertical air-aspiration channel lifts hollow seeds, dust, and light husks into a cyclone collector.
  • Specific Gravity Destoner: Utilizing an inclined vibrating deck with upward pressurized airflow, the destoner fluidizes the seed bed—causing heavy micro-stones, glass, and mud balls of identical size to sesame seeds to migrate uphill for discharge while clean sesame floats downhill.
  • 12,000-Gauss Rare-Earth Magnetic Separator: Seeds cascade over staggered neodymium magnetic tubes that capture ferrous metal filings, wire fragments, and weakly magnetic stainless-steel wear particles.

Stage 2: Wet Peeling, Closed-Loop Brine Separation & Dewatering

  • Warm Water Conditioning & Vertical Friction Peeler: Clean sesame seeds enter an AISI 316L conditioning mixer where warm water (45°C–50°C) softens the outer cellulose hull for 8–12 minutes. Seeds then pass into a dual-cylinder Mechanical Friction Peeler where rubber/food-grade composite paddles gently rub seeds against one another, detaching 99.5%+ of the fibrous outer skin without crushing the oil-rich endosperm.
  • Specific Gravity Brine Separation Bath (AISI 316L): The peeled mixture enters a food-grade saline bath maintained at 14°–16° Baumé (approx. 14–16% NaCl specific gravity 1.11). Because hulled sesame kernels are rich in oil, they float to the top and are skimmed off by weir paddles; the denser cellulose hulls absorb brine, sink to the conical bottom, and are auger-discharged for animal-feed byproduct disposal.
  • Closed-Loop Brine Filtration & Recycling Skid: Discharged brine passes through a 100-micron rotary wedge-wire screen, an automatic salt-concentration densitometer dosing tank, and a UV sterilization tube before returning to the separation bath—reducing fresh water and salt usage by 65%.
  • De-Salting Fresh Water Washer & Centrifugal Dewaterer: Hulled white kernels are rinsed with purified water on a dewatering screen to remove residual salt (<0.05% surface NaCl) and spun in a continuous Vertical Centrifugal Dewatering Machine to drop surface moisture to 15%–18%.

Stage 3: Drying, Bichromatic Optical Sorting & Precision Roasting

  • Continuous Rotary / Multi-Belt Seed Dryer: Wet hulled kernels pass through an indirect heat-exchanger dryer that gently lowers moisture from ~18% down to 6%–7% so seeds roast evenly without steaming or clumping.
  • 64-Channel Bichromatic CCD Optical Color Sorter: Dried white kernels fall in a curtain past high-resolution full-color and infrared cameras. High-speed pneumatic micro-ejectors fire within 1 millisecond to eject any unpeeled dark seeds, yellow/scorched kernels, or foreign specks—achieving 99.99% snow-white visual purity.
  • Twin Continuous Rotary Drum Roasters (Thermal-Oil / Gas Heated): To achieve 1,000 kg/hr continuous output with uniform roasting, two synchronized insulated rotary drum roasters operate in parallel. Indirect thermal-oil/gas heating and PID temperature control roast the kernels at 115°C–125°C for creamy white Lebanese/Saudi tahini, or 135°C–145°C for deep-roasted golden/red tahini. Indirect heating ensures combustion gases never contact the sesame seeds.
  • Rapid Pneumatic Cooling Sieve & Buffer Silos: Roasted seeds exit directly onto a perforated fluidized cooling bed where high-volume filtered ambient air drops seed temperature from 130°C to <40°C within 3 minutes, halting carry-over roasting and locking in volatile aroma compounds before storage in SS304 surge silos.

Stage 4: Hybrid Stone/Colloid Milling, Vacuum Deaeration & Homogenization

  • Stage 4A — Primary Coarse Grinding (Automated Natural Corundum Stone Mills + Pre-Colloid Mill): Cooled roasted seeds are metered via variable-frequency screw feeders into primary Natural Emery/Corundum Stone Mills (paired with a primary coarse colloid mill). Slow-speed high-torque grinding gently ruptures the oil cells and creates a rich, full-bodied primary paste (~80–100 microns) with authentic stone-ground flavor.
  • Stage 4B — Secondary Ultra-Fine Milling (2 × Water-Cooled Sanitary Colloid / Bead Mills): Rotary lobe pumps transfer the coarse paste through two parallel Sanitary Stainless-Steel Ultra-Fine Colloid Mills featuring precision-machined toothed stator/rotor sets adjustable down to a 5–10 micron gap. Chilled water (8°C–10°C) circulates continuously through the mill stator jackets, discharging finished tahini at 20–25 microns (600–800 mesh) at a controlled temperature of 48°C–52°C.
  • Inline Tubular Paste Cooler & Vacuum Deaerator (-0.08 to -0.09 MPa): The milled paste enters an SS304 Vacuum Deaeration Vessel where entrapped micro-air bubbles are extracted under vacuum. Removing oxygen prevents lipid oxidation (rancidity), eliminates unsightly foam bubbles at the top of clear PET jars, and increases bulk density consistency.
  • Jacketed Ribbon-Agitated Homogenizing Tanks (2 × 2,000L): Two 2,000-liter insulated buffer tanks equipped with slow-speed (18 RPM) PTFE wall-scraping planetary agitators maintain a 100% uniform solid-in-oil suspension prior to the filling machines.

Stage 5: Dual-Line Automated Filling, Capping & Induction Sealing

Inside the positive-pressure cleanroom, tahini is routed via sanitary lobe pumps to two dedicated packaging lines:

  • Line 1 — Retail Jar & Squeeze Bottle Line (250g / 400g / 800g at 3,000–4,500 Jars/Hr):
    • Rotary Jar Unscrambler & Ionized Air/UV Rinser: Automatically orients empty PET/PP jars and blasts interiors with ionized compressed air through HEPA filters before UV-C sterilization.
    • 6-Head Full-Servo Piston Volumetric Paste Filler: Equipped with a 150L agitated heated/jacketed hopper and independent Siemens servo-driven metering cylinders. Pneumatic positive-shutoff diving nozzles descend into the jar and rise with the liquid level, snapping shut cleanly at the end of the stroke to prevent viscous stringing or oil contamination on jar threads (filling accuracy: ±0.5%).
    • Automatic Pick-and-Place Screw Capper: Vibratory/waterfall cap sorter feeds 38mm, 63mm, or 82mm plastic screw caps (with pre-inserted aluminum induction wads) to a servo torque-controlled rotary/inline capper.
    • Water-Cooled Electromagnetic Induction Foil Sealer: As capped jars pass beneath the non-contact induction tunnel coil, high-frequency electromagnetic current heats the aluminum foil liner, hermetically welding it to the jar rim to guarantee 100% leak-proof transit across Saudi Arabia.
  • Line 2 — Bulk HORECA & Halawa Factory Pail Filler (5 kg / 10 kg / 18 kg at 180–300 Pails/Hr):
    • 2-Head Net-Weight Gravimetric Load-Cell Filler: Uses high-precision Mettler-Toledo/HBM load cells with two-stage (coarse + fine dribble) pneumatic shutoff valves to fill 5kg–18kg buckets to within ±10g, followed by a pneumatic roller lid-press and heavy-duty roller conveyor.

Stage 6: Labeling, Laser Coding, Case Packing & Palletizing

  • High-Speed Wrap-Around Self-Adhesive Labeler (with Optional Shrink Sleeve Module): Applies full-wrap or front-and-back polypropylene (BOPP) oil-resistant labels onto cylindrical or contoured retail jars at up to 5,000 Jars/Hr.
  • 30W CO₂ / UV Laser Date Coder: Permanently prints bilingual (Arabic/English) Production Date, Expiry Date, and Batch Lot codes onto jar caps or labels with zero ink consumables.
  • Automated Case Erector, Pick-and-Place Packer & Pallet Stretch Wrapper: Forms corrugated shipping cartons, loads 6, 12, or 24 jars per carton via servo pick-and-place grippers, tapes top/bottom flaps, and conveys cartons to a turntable pallet stretch wrapper.

6. Technical Specifications & Utilities Matrix

To support the client’s civil and MEP contractors in Riyadh’s MODON 2nd Industrial City, MENA Industrial Systems engineered the complete equipment and utility specification package:

Master Line Equipment Summary

StageEquipment DescriptionCore Technical SpecificationRated Capacity
01Raw Dry Cleaning & Destoning UnitVibratory Sifter, Aspirator, Gravity Destoner, 12,000G Neodymium Magnet, Baghouse Dust Collector1,500 kg/hr
02Wet Peeling & Closed-Loop Brine SystemFull AISI 316L, Twin Friction Peelers, Brine Separation Bath, Brine Recycling Skid, Centrifugal Dewaterer1,200 – 1,500 kg/hr
03Continuous Dryer & CCD Color SorterIndirect Multi-Pass Seed Dryer + 64-Channel Bichromatic CCD Optical Color Sorter (99.99% purity)1,200 kg/hr
04Twin Drum Roasters & Cooling Bed2 × Indirect Thermal-Oil/Gas Insulated Rotary Roasters + Pneumatic Fluidized Cooling Bed (<40°C)1,000 – 1,200 kg/hr
05Hybrid Stone & Chilled Colloid MillingPrimary Corundum Stone / Pre-Mill + 2 × Water-Cooled Ultra-Fine Colloid Mills (20–25 μm, <52°C)1,000 kg/hr
06Vacuum Deaerator & Buffer Tanks-0.09 MPa Vacuum Deaerator + 2 × 2,000L Jacketed tanks with PTFE Wall-Scraping Agitators4,000L Total Buffer
07Retail 6-Head Servo Piston Filling LineUnscrambler, Ionized Air Rinser, 6-Head Servo Filler, Screw Capper, Induction Sealer (250g–800g)3,000 – 4,500 Jars/Hr
08Bulk Pail Gravimetric Filling Station2-Head Load-Cell Net-Weight Filler (5kg / 10kg / 18kg) + Pneumatic Lid Press & Roller Conveyor180 – 300 Pails/Hr
09End-of-Line Labeling & Case PackingServo BOPP Wrap-Around Labeler, 30W Laser Coder, Case Erector, Pick-and-Place Packer, Pallet WrapperMatched to Line Speed

Plant Utilities Requirements (380V / 60Hz Saudi Grid)

Utility ParameterTechnical Requirement & SizingPrimary Consumers
Electrical Power Supply380V, 60Hz, 3-Phase + N + PE; Total Installed Load: ~240 kW (Operating Load: ~160–175 kW)Colloid & Stone Mills, Centrifugal Dewaterer, Chiller, Compressors, Filling Line
Thermal Energy (Gas / Diesel / LPG)~350,000 – 420,000 kcal/hr (Natural Gas: ~42–50 Nm³/hr or Low-Sulfur Diesel Burner)Continuous Seed Dryer & Twin Rotary Drum Roasters
Compressed Air (Dry, Oil-Free)0.7 – 0.8 MPa (7–8 Bar), Flow Rate: ~3.2 – 4.0 m³/min (with Refrigerated Dryer & 0.01 μm Filters)64-Ch Optical Sorter Ejectors, Filling Diving Nozzles, Case Packer Pneumatics
Process Water Supply1.8 – 2.2 m³/hour (Reduced from ~6.0 m³/hr via 65% Closed-Loop Brine Recovery Skid)Wet Conditioning, Brine Make-Up, Fresh Water De-Salting Rinse
Cooling Water / Chiller20 HP Tropicalized Industrial Chiller (Rated for 50°C Riyadh Summer Ambient), 7°C–10°C LoopUltra-Fine Colloid Mill Stator Jackets, Tubular Paste Cooler, Induction Sealer

7. Multi-Product & Multi-Format Changeover Protocol

MENA Industrial Systems engineered the Riyadh facility for rapid product and packaging agility:

  1. White Tahini to Golden/Red Roasted Tahini Changeover (~15 mins): Operators select the saved roasting profile on the central Siemens S7-1500 HMI. The PLC automatically adjusts the rotary drum roaster temperature (from 118°C to 140°C) and drum RPM residence time without interrupting continuous seed flow.
  2. Retail Jar Format Changeover — 250g / 400g / 800g (~20–25 mins):
    • 6-Head Servo Filler: Zero mechanical piston adjustments are required. Selecting “400g Jar” or “800g Jar” on the touchscreen instantly updates the servo-motor stroke length, filling speed profile (fast initial fill + slow top-off), and diving-nozzle height.
    • Capper & Induction Sealer: Because 400g and 800g jars were standardized to share an 82mm cap finish, switching between them requires only a 3-minute vertical height handwheel adjustment (with digital counters) on the capper, induction tunnel, and wrap-around labeler.
  3. Simultaneous Retail & Bulk Operation: Because the two 2,000L jacketed homogenizing tanks feed the Retail Line and the Bulk 18kg Pail Line independently via dedicated rotary lobe pumps, the client can fill 400g retail jars and 18kg B2B Halawa factory buckets simultaneously.

8. Quality Assurance (FAT), Logistics & Project Results

MENA Industrial Systems executed our comprehensive 4-Stage Quality Assurance & Turnkey Delivery Protocol:

  1. XRF Alloy & Component Verification: Conducted handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) testing on all wet-section vessels in China to certify genuine AISI 316L molybdenum content (2.0%–2.5% Mo) alongside 380V/60Hz motor nameplate verification.
  2. Live Sesame Grinding FAT in China: Purchased 2 tons of raw sesame seeds for a live Factory Acceptance Test in China. Verified peeling efficiency (>99.5%), optical color sorting accuracy, paste discharge temperature (<52°C), and laser diffraction particle size analysis (D₉₀ = 21.4 μm) before container loading.
  3. Containerized Shipping & Riyadh Dry Port Clearance: Coordinated ocean freight to King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam with bonded rail transfer to Riyadh Dry Port, supplying full SASO / SABER Certificates of Conformity and SFDA food-contact material declarations.
  4. On-Site Commissioning & Recipe Calibration: Supervised mechanical installation, thermal burner tuning, brine densitometer calibration, and bilingual (Arabic/English) operator training in Riyadh.

Key Project Outcomes

  • Total Equipment CAPEX: Delivered the complete 1,000 kg/hr turnkey processing and dual-packaging line at $268,500 (FOB China base)—achieving a 52% CAPEX reduction compared to equivalent European and top-tier regional OEM quotations.
  • Superior Shelf-Life & Quality: Achieved a consistent 20–22 micron creamy texture with zero free-oil separation across 12-month accelerated shelf-life testing.
  • Environmental & Utility Savings: The closed-loop brine filtration skid reduced daily water and industrial salt consumption by 65%, ensuring full compliance with MODON Riyadh wastewater regulations.
  • Labor Optimization: Central PLC automation reduced shift staffing requirements from 16 manual workshop laborers down to 5 skilled operators per shift.

Ready to Engineer Your Food Processing Facility in KSA?

MENA Industrial Systems combines direct engineering and factory quality control in China with local technical presence in Saudi Arabia. From 1,000 kg/hr tahini and halawa lines to automated dairy, beverage, and flexible packaging facilities, we deliver custom 2D AutoCAD plant layouts, verified machinery sourcing, and turnkey commissioning.