Industrial fruit and vegetable drying systems — 40–100 °C
The same chamber, a wider portfolio.
Multi-product capability is a genuine commercial advantage: it extends the operating season, spreads fixed costs across more production, and reduces exposure to a single crop’s price and yield volatility.
Product categories & controlling variables
- High-sugar tropical fruits (pineapple, banana, papaya) — sugar crystallisation and browning control are the limiting factors. Lower temperatures, longer cycles.
- Citrus & peel products — essential-oil retention governs the temperature ceiling.
- Alliums (onion, garlic) — sulphur-compound management and dedicated exhaust handling. These should not share a cycle with other products; the aroma transfers.
- Capsicums (chilli, sweet pepper) — colour degradation and capsaicin retention drive the parameter set.
- Leafy vegetables & herbs — very low temperature, short cycles, chlorophyll retention.
- Root vegetables — higher temperature tolerance, longer cycles, uniform slice thickness critical.
- Tomato & high-acid fruits — extended cycles with careful case-hardening prevention.
Multi-product operation
- Stored recipes — parameter sets recalled at the HMI rather than reset manually each time, which is where operator error creeps in.
- Aroma carryover — strongly aromatic products (onion, garlic, chilli, fish) transfer scent to subsequent batches. Sequence the schedule accordingly and clean between.
- Allergen management — where the portfolio includes allergens, cleaning validation between products is a food-safety requirement, not good practice.
- Damper balancing — volume-control dampers allow different chambers to run different products simultaneously at different conditions.
Every commercially dryable crop
Forty-five crops, with cut form, temperature band, target final moisture, yield and cycle time. These are sizing starting points: what you need to calculate a chamber volume and a throughput, not a validated recipe for your product.
Two things worth reading twice. First the yield: tomato at 14 : 1 and cabbage at 14 : 1 mean fourteen tonnes go in for one tonne out — sizing is done on fresh intake, never on dried output. Second the temperature: leaves cap at 50 °C because chlorophyll and vitamins do not survive past it, while mango wants 70. A chamber that holds only one setpoint does not do both.
| Crop | Form | Temperature (°C) | Final moisture (%) | Yield | Cycle (h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tropical fruit | |||||
| Mango | slice 5–8 mm | 65–70 | 12–14 | 10 : 1 | 16–20 |
| Pineapple | ring or slice 8–10 mm | 60–68 | 12–15 | 10 : 1 | 18–24 |
| Banana | slice or split | 60–65 | 15–18 | 4 : 1 | 14–18 |
| Plantain | slice 4–6 mm | 60–65 | 10–12 | 3 : 1 | 10–14 |
| Papaya | strip 8–10 mm | 58–65 | 12–15 | 12 : 1 | 16–22 |
| Guava | slice or purée sheet | 58–65 | 12–15 | 8 : 1 | 14–20 |
| Soursop | pulp sheet | 55–62 | 12–15 | 10 : 1 | 16–22 |
| Baobab pulp | pulp, already dry | 45–55 | 8–10 | 1.2 : 1 | 4–8 |
| Tamarind | pulp block | 50–60 | 15–18 | 2 : 1 | 8–14 |
| Bush mango kernel (ogbono) | kernel, whole | 45–55 | 8–10 | 2 : 1 | 12–18 |
| Citrus peel | peel strip | 50–58 | 8–10 | 6 : 1 | 10–16 |
| Cashew apple | slice or strip | 58–65 | 12–15 | 8 : 1 | 14–20 |
| Date | whole | 50–60 | 18–22 | 1.4 : 1 | 8–14 |
| Coconut (copra, desiccated) | chip or shred | 60–70 | 3–5 | 2.5 : 1 | 10–16 |
| Vegetables | |||||
| Tomato | half or slice 8 mm | 55–62 | 10–14 | 14 : 1 | 18–26 |
| Onion | slice 4–6 mm | 55–60 | 6–8 | 9 : 1 | 14–20 |
| Shallot | slice 4–6 mm | 55–60 | 6–8 | 8 : 1 | 14–20 |
| Garlic | slice 3–4 mm | 50–58 | 6–8 | 4 : 1 | 12–18 |
| Chilli | whole or split | 55–62 | 8–10 | 6 : 1 | 14–20 |
| Sweet pepper | strip 8 mm | 55–62 | 8–10 | 12 : 1 | 16–22 |
| Okra | slice or whole | 55–60 | 8–10 | 11 : 1 | 12–18 |
| Carrot | dice or slice 5 mm | 58–65 | 6–8 | 10 : 1 | 12–18 |
| Cabbage | shred | 55–60 | 6–8 | 14 : 1 | 10–16 |
| Aubergine | slice 6–8 mm | 55–62 | 8–10 | 12 : 1 | 14–20 |
| Pumpkin | slice or dice | 58–65 | 8–10 | 10 : 1 | 14–20 |
| Leaves and calyces | |||||
| Moringa leaf | whole leaf | 40–50 | 6–8 | 5 : 1 | 6–10 |
| Amaranth leaf | whole leaf | 40–50 | 6–8 | 8 : 1 | 6–10 |
| Cassava leaf | whole or shredded | 45–55 | 8–10 | 6 : 1 | 8–12 |
| Baobab leaf | whole leaf | 40–50 | 6–8 | 5 : 1 | 6–10 |
| Bitter leaf | whole leaf | 40–50 | 6–8 | 7 : 1 | 6–10 |
| Hibiscus calyx | calyx, whole | 45–55 | 8–10 | 7 : 1 | 10–16 |
| Roots, tubers and rhizomes | |||||
| Cassava | chip or grated | 55–65 | 10–12 | 3 : 1 | 10–16 |
| Sweet potato | slice or chip | 58–65 | 8–10 | 4 : 1 | 12–18 |
| Yam | chip | 58–65 | 10–12 | 3.5 : 1 | 12–18 |
| Ginger | slice 4–6 mm | 55–60 | 8–10 | 5 : 1 | 14–20 |
| Turmeric | slice or whole | 55–60 | 8–10 | 5 : 1 | 14–22 |
| Taro | chip | 58–65 | 10–12 | 4 : 1 | 12–18 |
| Pulses, oilseeds and grains | |||||
| Cowpea | whole grain | 40–45 | 10–12 | 1.2 : 1 | 4–8 |
| Groundnut | in shell or kernel | 40–45 | 7–8 | 1.3 : 1 | 6–12 |
| Sesame | whole seed | 40–45 | 6–8 | 1.2 : 1 | 4–8 |
| Soybean | whole bean | 40–45 | 10–12 | 1.2 : 1 | 6–10 |
| Maize | shelled grain | 40–50 | 12–13 | 1.3 : 1 | 6–12 |
| Fonio | whole grain | 40–45 | 10–12 | 1.2 : 1 | 4–8 |
| Bambara groundnut | whole grain | 40–45 | 10–12 | 1.2 : 1 | 6–10 |
| Raw cashew nut | raw nut in shell | 45–55 | 8–10 | 1.15 : 1 | 8–14 |
| Cocoa bean | fermented bean | 50–60 | 7–8 | 2.5 : 1 | 20–30 |
| Coffee | parchment or cherry | 45–55 | 10–12 | 5 : 1 | 18–30 |
| Shea kernel | kernel | 50–60 | 6–8 | 3 : 1 | 12–20 |
Yield is whole fresh weight to one part finished product, including trim and waste. Mango values are our published specification; the rest are ordinary processing ranges that move with variety, maturity and grade.
Explore further
Tomato drying in Burkina Faso · Tomato drying in Nigeria
Onion drying in Burkina Faso · Onion drying in Senegal
Chilli drying in Ghana · Chilli drying in Nigeria
Cassava drying in Côte d'Ivoire · Cassava drying in Nigeria · Cassava drying in Benin · Cassava drying in Cameroon
- Mango drying and fish & seafood — the two flagship applications.
- Batch units and industrial tunnel dryers — flexible chambers for a mixed portfolio.
- Agricultural-processing hot air — parameters tuned per crop.
- Browse all countries & products for your specific crop.
Frequently asked questions
Can one dryer handle fruit and vegetables on the same line?
Yes, on separate recipes, and the reason to be careful is odour rather than temperature. Both sit inside the 40 to 100 °C chamber range, but onion, garlic and chilli carry volatiles that transfer to a mild product dried after them. Plan the running order, and keep dedicated trays where a strong crop alternates with a delicate one.
Why does slice thickness matter more than chamber temperature?
Because water leaves through the cut face, and thickness sets how far it has to travel. A 5 to 8 mm slice dries evenly; double it and the surface seals while the centre stays wet, which is case hardening. Raising temperature to compensate makes it worse. Consistent slicing does more for cycle time than any setpoint change.
What throughput should I plan for a mixed fruit and vegetable operation?
A chamber takes 1,500 kg of fresh product per batch, and burners run 200,000 to 900,000 kcal/h. Mixed operations usually run more, shorter batches than single-crop lines, so changeover time matters as much as capacity. Batch units suit that pattern better than tunnels; we size against your busiest week, not your annual total.
Discuss your product range
Tell us the crops you handle across the season and we’ll configure recipes, dampers and hygiene to suit.
Discuss your range