Acai berry fruits are widely grown in South America especially in Brazil, it is a tropical fruit from the palm tree, which is round and black-purple 15-25mm in diameter and has a very large seed. The seed is 85%-90% of the fruit and the shell and fruit pulp only 10%-15%.

Acai berry fruits are rich in anthocyanins, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, phytosterols, polysaccharides, minerals, etc. Acai berry has a very strong antioxidant capacity, which is 11 times that of cranberry, 21 times that of pomegranate, and more than 90 times that of kiwi fruit. This powerful antioxidant capacity helps reduce cell damage, slow down the aging process and has a positive effect on maintaining skin health.

The acai berry fruits can proceed into acai frozen berry pulp, aseptic acai berry pulp, acai berry powder, and acai berry seeds oil according to different processing flowcharts, and the end products can be filled into aseptic bags in drums, bottles, cans, and soft bags.

Acai berry processing involves fresh acai berry fruit air bubble washing and drum washing, fruit sorting, blanching, acai berry fruit seeds removal, acai berry pulping, fruit pulp decanter centrifuge separating, acai berry pulp sterilizing/pasteurizing, concentrating and spray drying(only for acai berry powder production), acai berry pulp filling and packing.

The capacity of the acai berry processing is from 500kg per hour to 20 tons per hour based on clients’ requirements and raw materials supplied.

The whole acai berry processing plant and machines are made of SUS304 food-grade material and also equipped with one CIP system for the pipelines and equipment self-cleaning to make sure the whole line is sanitary and produce the high-quality food products.

Aseptic acai berry pulp processing: The acai berry pulp has a pH value of about 4.0-4.5, and the total solid is about 7-9 Brix. The fresh acai berry fruits after cleaning and deseeding, then pumped into the double-stage pulping machine, and then we will get the fruit pulp, after pulp filtering and separating, the fruit pulp will be UHT sterilized and filled into an aseptic bag in drums. The aseptic acai berry pulp shelf life is about 12-18 months stored at room temperature.

Frozen acai berry pulp processing: the frozen acai berry pulp contains 5% fat. After we extract acai pulp from fresh fruits, the pulp will be pasteurized or unpasteurized, then the fruit pulp will be filled into soft bags or sachets and frozen to -18℃ through the blast freezer, then storage in below zero temperature environment, with this processing method, the fruit pulp can also have a shelf with 12 months.

Acai berry powder processing: The acai berry powder is the acai berry pulp after concentrating and spray drying or freeze drying to make the powder products with a water content of 2%-5%.

 Acai berry seeds oil processing: The acai berry seeds will be separated from acai pulp, then the seeds will be cleaned and dried to reduce the moisture content, then the seeds will be cold pressed and refined to get the high-quality berry seeds oil, and the oil will be packed into glass jars.

Acai berry juice processing: The acai berry pulp can be used for the raw ingredients, after mixed with pure water, flavors and other ingredients, the acai berry juice is created, and the acai juice will be pasteurized/sterilized and homogenized, at last, the juice can be filled into bottles or cans.

The fresh acai berry fruits after harvesting, then they need to be transported to the acai berry processing factory immediately for processing. Firstly, the fresh acai berry fruits will be cleaned and washed by the bubble washing machine and drum washing machines, then the fruits will be sent to the stone washer machines to remove the fruits seeds in acai fruits, the acai fruits seeds can be washed and dried then pressed to obtain the oil, whereas the acai pulp and shell will be pumped into double stage pulping machines to extract the fine pulp, then the acai pulp will be sent to filter or separator for the big solid separation, and the acai pulp will be homogenized, pasteurized/sterilized and filled into the small containers or aseptic big bags; When producing the acai powder, the acai pulp will be concentrated and dried by the spray dryer to make into the powder products.

Berries are thoroughly washed to remove dirt, pesticides, and other contaminants by the air bubble washing machine and drum washing machines two stage washing. During washing, the high pressure water will be spray on the surface of the fruits to remove all foreigner matters. Berry sorting machine adopt to belt sorting conveyor to select out the rotten and damaged fruits by manually.

As the very hard of acai berry shells, before crushing and seeds removing, the berry fruits will be cooked by the blancher to soft the process. The blanch process will be 85-95℃ holding for 5-10 minutes, after blanching, the fruits will be cooled to room temperature.

The acai berry seeds removal process is adopted by the fruit stone washer machine. The fresh acai berry fruits will be fed into the stone washer machine, As the rotor rotates, the fruit core is pressed against the inner wall of the screen by the rotor’s scraper due to the centrifugal force and rubs against the screen along an S-shaped path. The pulp attached to the fruit core is gradually scraped off and discharged through the mesh of the screen. So the fruit pulp and stone will be separated.

The acai berry pulp and shell will be pumped into the double-stage pulping machine. The fruit shell and meat are squeezed into smaller fine pulp by the spiral propulsion of the beating plate, and the pulp is separated through the 0.6mm screen in the pulping machines.

During the pulping process, as the acai fruit flesh is very hard and dry, the RO pure water can be dosed into the pulping machine, and the fruit pulp and water ratio will be 1:2.

As the acai berry puree pH value is about 4.0 and high viscosity feature, we use the tube-in-tube sterilizer to do the heat treatment.

• If the manufacturer wants to make the aseptic products, the sterilizing process will be 120℃ holding for 15 seconds, after sterilization, the pulp will be cooled to room temperature to do the aseptic filing;
• If the manufacturer wants to make the pasteurized frozen acai pulp, then the pulp can be pasteurized with 75-85℃ and filled into bags.

Before pasteurizing or sterilizing, the puree needs to be homogenized, the homogenizing process can help to reduce the pulp viscosity and make the pulp tissue smoother and finer through the high shear force in the homogenizer to make the high-quality products, and during the homogenizing process, 25-30Mpa high-pressure homogenizer will be used to the treatment of the products.