Cocoa Processing Plant

Modeling and Evaluation with

SuperPro Designer®

INTELLIGEN, INC.
Simulation, Design, and Scheduling Tools
For the Process Manufacturing Industries
www.intelligen.com

Intelligen, Inc. Page 1

Introduction
This example analyzes a cocoa beans processing plant that produces various categories of chocolates
and cocoa powders. Cocoa beans can be processed with many different alternative routes and
configurations. Also for each operation there are many different operating units and technologies. The
current example uses fermented and dried cocoa beans as a raw material and a common process layout.
Cocoa trees were cultivated by the Aztecs of Mexico long before the arrival of the Europeans. The first
cocoa beans were brought to Europe by Columbus as a curiosity, but were later exploited commercially
by Don Cortez as a new drink (Minifie, 1980). The drink was gradually preferred to be sweetened, and
later on it was mixed with milk. Back then mixing beans and sugar could not produce a solid chocolate
with pleasant texture. Additional cocoa butter was needed that would enable the chocolate to melt in the
mouth. Pressing cocoa beans to remove some of the butter out was a concept developed by Van Houten
of Holland, allowing firstly the pressed butter to be used as extra fat for making chocolate, while the
remaining solids could still be added in chocolate drinks. The solid form of milk chocolate is normally
attributed to Daniel Peter of Vevey, (Geneva in 1875), who mixed the cocoa liquor with milk powder which
was developed by Henri Nestlé. White chocolate was developed later on during 1930s. Since then a large
number of dark, milk and white chocolate products and confectionaries have been developed (Beckett,
2009a).
The cocoa tree originates from the South and Central America, from which it was introduced into Asia and
Africa. There are four main cocoa tree types: Criollo, Forastero, Trinitario and National. From those
Forastero is the main type cultivated globally due to its high yields and resistance to several diseases.
The flowers of the cocoa tree, if pollinated, are developed into cocoa pods after several months. The pods
contain the cocoa beans, which are covered by a sweet, white and viscous pulp. Immediately after
harvesting the processes of fermentation and drying are normally carried out on the farm. These are
essential steps during which the cocoa flavour precursors are formed. Drying produces a stable, non-
perishable commodity, which is shipped to cocoa processing plants. The yields of dry beans are variable
from 150 kg/ hectare of land in poorly maintained small farms, up to achieved levels of 2500 kg/hectare of
well-run plantations.
Cocoa contains phenolic compounds, such as flavanols (including epicatechin), procyanidins, and
other flavonoids, which are under preliminary research for their possible cardiovascular effects. The
highest levels of cocoa flavanols are found in raw cocoa and to a lesser extent in dark chocolate, since
flavonoids degrade during cooking used to make chocolate. Cocoa also contains the stimulant
compounds theobromine and caffeine. The beans contain between 0.1% and 0.7% caffeine, whereas dry
coffee beans are about 1.2% caffeine.
Fermented and dried beans are usually used for cocoa processing plants. Typically, the beans are initially
cleaned for the removal of impurities (such as stones, sand etc.). The beans are covered by a fibrous
shell, which has to be removed. This process is called winnowing, and the shell-free beans are called
nibs. Other necessary steps for the cocoa processing is the roasting of the beans. Roasting develops the

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flavour in the beans from the precursors formed during fermentation and drying. Additional preheating
and/or drying is also needed to remove moisture that exists in the beans, or added during processing.
Any increase of temperature above a certain level also reduces the microbial load of the cocoa beans.
This is important for the quality of cocoa mass, since it reduces the high total plate counts (>106 cfu/g) in
the beans as well as the presence of pathogens such as Salmonella. There are different methods of
heating up the beans, or the nibs, for the purposes of roasting (and drying) operations. These methods
may include preheating steps, variable residence times, heating with hot air, direct heating with steam,
additional drying, etc., and they may be applied using different available technologies and equipment,
which might operate in batch or in continuous mode. The extent of roasting, the level of moisture left in
cocoa mass and the presence of unwanted shell particles, are considered to be important for the quality
characteristics of cocoa. Ultimately, the cocoa nibs are grinded. Due to the high fat content of the nibs
(slightly larger than 50%) the heating and grinding operations convert the nibs into a thick liquid, called
cocoa liquor (or chocolate liquor). This is the raw material for the natural chocolate manufacturing. The
cocoa liquor then can be fractionated to solids and fat using a plate and frame press, or screw press. The
cocoa butter is collected and can be used for chocolate manufacturing. Cocoa butter is a relatively
expensive and high quality fat with great functionality in food industry and health care industries. The
cake (cocoa solids) containing variable contents of fat, can be used for manufacturing of cocoa powders
and chocolate flavoured drinks.
Another important processing step of cocoa processing is the alkalization. Cocoa beans are acidic.
Adding an alkaline solution to the beans (such as potassium carbonate), under certain process
conditions, neutralizes them. This alkalization process was developed in the nineteenth century in Holland
and for this reason is also called the Dutching process. It results in darker products and depending on the
processing conditions, red and/or brown colours will be formed. Alkalization can be applied in different
steps of the cocoa processing to neutralize the beans, the nibs or even to the cocoa liquor and the cocoa
solids. In all cases it has an impact on the cocoa colour, flavour and solubility. Typically it is followed by
roasting and/or drying. The alkalized cocoa powders are preferred in many food and drink applications.
The alkalisation process, however, reduces significantly all the antioxidants that naturally exist in the
beans (Kamphuis, 2009).
Chocolate manufacturing follows the separation of cocoa butter and cocoa solids from natural or alkalized
cocoa. As mentioned above, there are many different chocolates, but three basic types are the dark, milk
and white chocolate. The basic differences between them are on the amounts of cocoa butter and cocoa
solids used in their recipes, and also on the non-cocoa ingredients of their recipes, e.g. milk chocolate
contains milk. After the initial mixing of the ingredients, the refining ensures that the mixing of the
ingredients is perfect and that the particle size of the solids is reduced (Ziegler and Hogg, 2009). The next
step is conching. A conche is a container filled with metal beads, which act as grinders. This is the last
step of chocolate manufacturing in which the final flavour is developed. This is achieved by removing
potentially unwanted acidic off-flavours (Ziegler, 2009). Conching also melts all the solids of the recipe

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and reduces the particle size distribution (PSD) of the solids in the mixture (Beckett, 2009b). It is
important that the cocoa solids and the sugar are fully covered with cocoa butter. After many hours of
milling achieved during conching, the PSD of the solids are smaller than what the human tongue can
detect. This gives a smooth and uniform texture of chocolate in the mouth. After conching, the next step is
tempering. The purpose of this step is to cool down the chocolate mixture in a way that the crystalizing
cocoa butter will produce crystals of the desired polymorphs and size (Talbot, 2009). When the
triglycerides of cocoa butter are crystallised in the desired polymorph, they melt at a temperature just
below the human body temperature. This means that the chocolate is solid at room temperature but melts
rapidly in the mouth as it reaches body temperature. This causes the smooth and rich texture and mouth
feel when consuming chocolate. It is important to temper at correct temperatures and residence times, in
order to achieve the desired polymorph and crystal size; ultimately this will result in a uniform sheen and
crisp bite of the chocolate. There are both batch and continuous tempering technologies, with or without
post tempering residence time at controlled temperatures. Finally, the tempered chocolate is fully cooled
down. Chocolate bars can be formed by moulding or by coating/enrobing upon other ingredients.
Chocolate is also traded in the form of drops or “coins”, which allow the final processor to produce other
recipes, mix it with other ingredients and give other forms.
Dark chocolate contains cocoa products (butter and solids), sugar and lecithin. Milk chocolate contains
less cocoa products, which are replaced by milk powder. Finally white chocolate includes cocoa butter
and milk powder, but not cocoa solids. There are strict specifications on the naming of chocolates. A
typical specification is the minimum amount of cocoa products in the chocolate. These specifications are
not necessarily the same between countries. For example, milk chocolate needs to have more than 25%
cocoa products (combined cocoa butter and dry non-fat cocoa solids) in the EU, while the corresponding
specification in the UK is more than 20%.
Chocolate is one of the most popular confectionery products in the Western world, with continuously
increasing consumption. Chocolate consumption is lower in Asian countries on a per capita basis,
however it is increasing with higher annual growth than Western countries. Figure 1 provides the Global
retail chocolate consumption, which is expected to reach about 7.7 million tons in 2019 (Anonymous,
2018). There are three main cocoa growing areas, all of which have tropical climate; West Africa,
Southeast Asia and South America. The largest cocoa producing countries are Ivory Coast, Ghana,
Indonesia and Nigeria. The increasing demand results frequently in fluctuations of the price of the
commodity (Fowler, 2009).

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Figure 1: Global retail chocolate confectionary consumption (source: anonymous, 2018)

Process Description
A conceptual process of a cocoa processing plant was modeled and evaluated economically in SuperPro
Designer, in an effort to capture the expected stream flowrates, process equipment, utilities consumption
and ultimately production costs. The first step in setting up the model was to register components
(materials) associated with the process.

For reporting and analysis purposes, the process has been divided into four sections:

 Cocoa Beans Preparation

 Alkalized Cocoa
 Dark Chocolate
 Milk Chocolate
 White Chocolate
Flowsheet sections in SuperPro are simply sets of related unit procedures (processing steps). For
information on how to specify flowsheet sections and edit their properties, please consult Chapter 8.1 of
the SuperPro manual. The contents of each of this example’s flowsheet sections are described in greater
detail below. The process will be easier to follow if you open this example within SuperPro and view the
flowsheet while reading about the process.

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Cocoa Beans Preparation

The purpose of this section is to clean, prepare and grind the beans. The process begins with the silos of
procedure P-1, which can store the incoming cocoa beans for 1 month in order to ensure that the plant
can be supplied continuously with the raw material. The cocoa beans are passed through a screen in
procedure P-2, which separates any stones, sands and other foreign impurities material that might be
ccontained in the feed. The cocoa beans are then heated up for roasting purposes. The increase in
temperature takes place by mixing the beans with hot air in two steps, first at about 40 ◦C (see procedure
◦
P-3), and second at about 113 C (see procedure P-4). As a result, some of the moisture contained in the
cocoa beans is evaporated. Also, the microbial load of the beans is significantly reduced. To account for
evaporation, the two heating steps in procedures P-3 and P-4 are modeled as reaction steps with the
following mass stoichiometry:
100 Cocoa beans  97 Roasted Cocoa + 3 Water
The extent of reaction is set at 50% in procedure P-3 and at 100% in procedure P-4. The residence times
of procedures P-3 and P-4 are 10 and 20 minutes, respectively. Hot air is supplied via the heater of
procedure P-5 and the flow splitting procedure P-6. After the heating step, the beans pass through a
grinder, which breaks their shell (se procedure P-7). This is modelled as a reaction in the grinding
equipment with the following stoichiometry:
100 Roasted Beans  92 Cocoa Nibs + 6 Cocoa Shells + 2 Water
The conversion if this reaction is set at 100%. The specific power of the grinder is set at 0.3 kW/(kg/h).
After grinding, the shells are separated from the nibs by the method of winnowing, which uses air. This
step is modeled using a generic box (see procedure P-8). The shells are then separated from the air
using a component splitter (see procedure P-9). After winnowing, the cocoa nibs are loaded in the tank of
procedure P-10. This tank acts as a buffer tank for the batch alkalization operation that follows. At this
point, the process line is split into two lines using a flow splitter (see procedure P-11): the natural cocoa
products line and the alkalized products line. The flow splitter splits 50% of the flow of cocoa into the feed
stream of the cocoa alkalization section, which is later described, while the remaining 50% is loaded into
another tank (see procedure P-34). This tank feeds the dryer of procedure P-35. The nibs are then cooled
down in procedure P-36 and fed into the grinder of procedure P-37. In there, the hot nibs are ground to
produce cocoa liquor. This is modelled as a reaction with the following stoichiometry:
100 Cocoa Nibs  54 Cocoa Butter + 45 Cocoa Powder + 1 Water
The extent of this reaction is set at 100%. After griding, the flow of cocoa liquor is split into two streams,
one that feeds the dark chocolate section, and another that feeds the milk chocolate section, using a flow
splitting procedure (P-38). The flow spliter splits 40% of the flow of cocoa liquor to the feed stream of the
dark chocolate section and 60% to the feed stream of the milk chocolate section.
Up to this point, this fraction of cocoa beans has been processed naturally, without the addition of any
other component. From this point onwards, the chocolate making processes start.

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As mentioned above, another fraction of cocoa beans is fed to the alkalized cocoa section in the splitter of
procedure P-11. Before describing the chocolate making processes for the first fraction, the processing
steps of the alkalized cocoa section will be described below.

Alkalized Cocoa

This section uses part of the cocoa nibs to produce cocoa butter, reduced fat alkalized cocoa powder,
and chocolate flavored powder. The fraction of cocoa nibs that is split to the alkalized cocoa section in
procedure P-11 is fed to the batch alkalization reactor of procedure P-12. In this reactor, the following
operations are carried out:
- Pull-In Cocoa Nibs
- Pull-In K2CO3
- Pull-In Steam
- Pressurize
- React
- Cool
- Transfer-Out
First, the cocoa nibs are pulled in from procedure P-11 for 4 hours. Towards the end of this operation, the
potassium carbonate is also pulled in. Also, steam is added up to a final temperature of 85 °C. The
reactor vessel is then pressurized at 2 bar pressure and the reaction starts. The alkalization reaction has
the following stoichiometry:
98.5 Cocoa Nibs + 1.5 K 2 CO 3  100 Alkalized Cocoa
The conversion is set at 100% based on the reaction limiting component. As soon the reaction is
completed, the solution is cooled down to 50 °C, and all the contents of the vessel are transferred out to
the buffer tank of procedure P-13. In order to achieve continuous loading of cocoa nibs, two reactors
need to be used in stagger mode, so that one reactor is loading while the other reactor performs the
remaining steps after loading. Therefore, there is always one reactor tank loading from the upstream
continuous section, and at particular times there is one tank unloading to the tank of procedure P-13. The
level of that tank is not constant, and it is designed to have a residence time of 4 h. The alkalized cocoa
nibs are then dried and roasted in the rotary drying procedure of P-14. Subsequently, the alkalized cocoa
nibs are ground in procedure P-15. In this step, the nibs are converted into alkalized cocoa liquor. This is
modelled by specifying a reaction that has the following mass stoichiometry:
100 Alkalized Cocoa  53 Cocoa Butter + 45 Al Cocoa Powder + 0.3 Color + 1 Volatiles +0.7 Water
The conversion of this reaction is set at 100% based on the limiting component. After the grinder, the
alkalized cocoa liquor is loaded to the press feed tank (procedure P-16). The press (procedure P-17)
operates in batch mode and has the following operations:
- Transfer-In
- Filter

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 - Transfer-Out
The alkalized cocoa liquor is transferred into the equipment, and then it is pressed (filtered). During
pressing, the alkalized cocoa powder separates from the liquor. Any remaning solid particles in the liquor
are filtered in procedure P-18 and sent back to the press feed tank (P-16). The cake still contains about
14% cocoa butter. To simulate this, the LOD of the filtration operation is set at 14%. Again, in order to
achieve continuous loading, two identical presses are used operating in staggered mode, so that one
press is loading while the other is performing one of the other operations in procedure P-17.
After pressing, the cake is pulverized in the grinding procedure of P-19 and cooled down pneumatically in
the rotary drying procedure of P-21. In that procedure, the air is supplied after being cooled down to 13°C
in the cooler of procedure P-20. Subsequently, the alkalized cocoa powder is split in procedure P-22 into
two streams: 50% of the powder is sold as reduced fat alkalized cocoa powder, and 50% is used to
produce chocolate flavored powder. To produce the chocolate flavored powder, the reduced fat alkalized
cocoa powder is first mixed with sugar, lecithin, glucose and vanillin in the mixture preparation procedure
of P-23, and then it is blended in the batch tumbler mixer of procedure P-24. That procedure contains the
following operations.
- Transfer-In
- Mix
- Transfer-Out
To ensure that there is always one tumbler mixer loading powder, two identical batch tumble mixers
operating on staggered mode are used (so that one is loading while the other performs other operations).
As mentioned above, at the end of the pressing the alkalized cocoa butter is filtered in procedure P-19 to
remove any remaining solid particles. Then, the alkalized cocoa butter is loaded to the tank of procedure
P-25, and mixed with bleaching earth in order to remove unwanted color substances. The bleaching earth
is then filtered in procedure P-26 and sent back to the tank of procedure P-25. In this recycle loop, a small
amount of bleaching earth including impurities is continuously bled from procedure P-27, and a small
amount of fresh bleaching earth is continuously fed in procedure P-28. The bleached cocoa butter is
heated up to 180 °C in procedure P-29 using high pressure steam, and then it is sent to the deodorizer
(see flash procedure P-30). In there, the unwanted volatile components of the cocoa butter are
evaporated and then, in procedure P-31, they are condensed. The refined cocoa butter is pumped in
procedure P-32, then cooled down at 50 °C in procedure P-33, and then split into two streams in
procedure P-54 (one for feeding the milk chocolate and another for feeding the white chocolate sections).

Dark Chocolate

The dark chocolate section starts with the cocoa liquor, which is split in procedure P-38 and then loaded
into the feed tank of procedure P-39 (the feed tank for this section). From there, the cocoa liquor is fed
into a screw press (procedure P-40), which separates the cocoa butter from the solids. The final total
suspended solids % in the cake is set at 86%. The cocoa butter is filtered in procedure P-41, which

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separates the solids and sends them back to the section’s feed tank. The remaining cocoa butter is sent
to the tank of procedure P-46, which mixes the ingredients of dark chocolate. The solids contain about
14% cocoa butter. These are subsequently ground in procedure P-42, and then split in half in procedure
P-43. From the flowrate of cocoa liquor feeding the section, only half of the cocoa solids are used for
making dark chocolate. The other half is cooled down pneumatically in the rotary drying procedure of P-
45 and sold as natural cocoa powder. The first half of the cocoa solids is mixed with other ingredients in
the mixing tank of procedure P-46. This tank operates in batch mode and it is used to carry out the
following operations:
- Pull-In Solids
- Pull-In Butter
- Pull-In Sugar
- Pull-In Lecithin
- Hold
- Agitate
- Transfer-Out
To achieve continuous loading of cocoa solids and butter, two identical tanks operating in staggered
mode are used, so that one tank is loading the cocoa solids and butter while the other tank is carrying out
one of the other operations. Therefore, there is always one tank loading cocoa solids and cocoa butter
from the upstream continuous process. Sugar and lecithin is added at a mass percentage of 48% and
0.6% respectively. As soon as sugar and lecithin are added, the mixture is held and agitated for about 1
hour. The contents are then transferred out to the refiner, which reduces the particle size distribution of
the solid particles (simulated using bulk shredding procedure P-47), and then loaded in the conching
procedure of P-48. To simulate conching, a batch 3x3 generic box procedure is used. That procedure
includes the following operations:
- Transfer-In
- Hold
- Agitate
- Split
- Pull-In lecithin
- Transfer-Out
The transfer-in operation is synchronized with the transfer-out operation of the mixing tank (P-46). The
conching then starts (simulated using hold and agitate operations), and lasts for about 8 hours. Water is
vaporized especially during the first hour of the conching. The lecithin is added at a final mass
concentration of 1%. After 8 hours of conching, the contents are transferred out. To ensure continuous
loading and transfer-out, the equipment resource that hosts the conching procedure of P-48 actually
consists of 4 identical conches operating in staggered mode, so that there is one conche always loading
and another always transferring out, continously feeding the downstream continuous section. After

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conching, the chocolate liquor is then tempered in a three-stage continuous tempering device. This is
modelled using three continuous generic boxes. In the first stage (procedure P-49), the temperature is at
54 °C. This temperature ensures that there are no crystals of fat in the chocolate liquor. The second stage
(procedure P-50) cools down the chocolate at 31 °C, and the third stage (procedure P-51) heats it up to
33.5 °C. The tempered chocolate is then loaded in a post-tempering tank (procedure P-52) with a
residence time of 1 hour. Finally, the produced chocolate masse is sent to the moulding equipment
(procedure P-53), which cools down the dark chocolate masse while giving it the desired form.

Milk Chocolate

The milk chocolate section starts with the tank of procedure P-55, which mixes the milk chocolate
ingredients. This tank operates in batch mode and it is used to carry out the following operations
- Pull-In Liquor
- Pull-In Butter
- Pull-In Milk
- Pull-In Sugar
- Pull-In Lecithin
- Pull-In Vanillin
- Hold
- Agitate
- Transfer-Out
In order to achieve continous loading of cocoa liquor and cocoa butter and continuous transfer-out, the
equipment resource used for procedure P-55 actually contains three identical tanks operating in
staggered mode, so that one tank is always loading and another is always transferring out while the third
one is used to carry out one of the other operations. Therefore, there is always one tank loading cocoa
butter and cocoa liquor from the upstream continuous equipment, and there is always one tank
transferring out the mixture. After mixing, the milk chocolate is then refined in procedure P-56 and
transferred into the conching devices of procedure P-57. Similar to the dark chocolate conching of
procedure P-48, the milk chocolate conching procedure has the following operations:
- Transfer-In
- Hold
- Agitate
- Split
- Pull-In lecithin
- Transfer-Out
The transfer-in operation is synchronized with the transfer-out operation of the section’s mixing tank. The
conching then starts and lasts for 4 hours. Water is vaporized especially during the early stages of
conching. The lecithin is added at a final mass concentration of 1%. After four hours of conching the

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contents are transferred out. To ensure continuous loading and transfer-out, the equipment resource that
hosts the conching procedure of P-57 actually consists of 6 identical conches operating in staggered
mode, so that there always one conche loading and another transferring out, continuously feeding the
downstream continuous section. After conching, the milk chocolate liquor is then tempered in a three-
stage continuous tempering device. This is modelled using three continuous generic boxes. In the first
stage (procedure P-58), the temperature is at 50 °C. This temperature ensures that there are no crystals
of fat in the chocolate liquor. The second stage (procedure P-59) cools down the chocolate at 28 °C, and
the third stage (procedure P-60) heats it up to 31 °C. The tempered chocolate is then loaded into a post-
tempering tank (procedure P-61) with a residence time of 1 hour. Finally, the produced chocolate masse
is sent to the moulding equipment (procedure P-62) which cools down the milk chocolate masse while
giving it the desired form.

White Chocolate

Like the milk chocolate section, the white chocolate section starts with the tank of procedure P-63, which
mixes the ingredients of the white chocolate. This tank operates in batch mode and it is used to carry out
the following operations
- Pull-In Butter
- Pull-In Milk
- Pull-In Sugar
- Pull-In Lecithin
- Pull-In Vanillin
- Hold
- Agitate
- Transfer-Out
The basic difference of the white chocolate section compared to the other sections is that the recipe in
this section does not contain any cocoa solids. In order to achieve continous transfer-in and transfer-out
operations, the equipment resource used for procedure P-63 actually contains two identical tanks
operating in staggered mode, so that one tank is always loading while the other one is used to carry out
one of the other operations. Therefore, there is always one tank loading cocoa butter from the upstream
continuous equipment. White chocolate is then refined in procedure P-64 and transferred into the
conching devices of procedure P-65. As with the milk chocolate conching (P-48), the white chocolate
conching has the following operations:
- Transfer-In
- Hold
- Agitate
- Split
- Pull-In lecithin

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 - Transfer-Out
The transfer-in operation is synchronized with the transfer out-operation of the section’s mixing tank. The
conching then starts and lasts for 4 hours. Water is vaporized especially during the early stages of
conching. The lecithin is added at a final mass concentration of 1%. After four hours of conching, the
contents are transferred out. To ensure continuous loading and transfer-out, the equipment resource that
hosts the conching procedure of P-65 actually consists of 3 identical conches operating in staggered
mode, so that there is always one conche loading and another transferring out, continuous feeding the
downstream continuous section. After conching, the white chocolate liquor is then tempered in a three-
stage continuous tempering device. This is simulated using three continuous generic boxes. In the first
stage (procedure P-66), the temperature is heated at 50 °C. This temperature ensures that there are no
crystals of fat in the chocolate liquor. The second stage (procedure P-67) cools down the chocolate at 28
°C, and the third stage (procedure P-68) heats it up to 31 °C. The tempered white chocolate is then
loaded into a post-tempering tank (procedure P-69) with a residence time of 1 hour. Finally, the produced
chocolate masse is sent to the moulding equipment (procedure P-70) which cools down the milk
chocolate masse while giving it the desired form.

Economic Evaluation
This plant processes about 15,700 tons of cocoa beans per year, with an assumed uptime of about 7920
hours per year. Various assumptions were made for the costs of raw materials, heat transfer agents,
wastewater treatment, equipment purchase costs, labor, etc. In addition to the mass and energy
balances, SuperPro Designer calculates the capital (CAPEX) and operating expenses (OPEX), the
production cost and the profitability of the project. The results can be found in the Economic Evaluation
(EER), Cash Flows Analysis (CRF), Itemized Cost (ICR) and Excel Custom reports.

Table 1, which was extracted from the ERR and shown below, provides information on equipment sizes
and purchase costs. The SuperPro built-in cost models were used for estimating the purchase cost of
most pieces of equipment. Table 2, which was also extracted from the ERR, provides a summary of the
fixed capital estimate, which is around $97 million for a plant of this capacity.

1. MAJOR EQUIPMENT SPECIFICATION AND FOB COST (2016

prices)
Quantity/
Standby/ Name Description Unit Cost ($) Cost ($)
Staggered
1/0/0 SL-101 Silo/Bin 783,000 783,000

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 Vessel Volume = 2117647.06 L
1/0/0 VSCR-101 Vibrating Screen 20,000 20,000
Rated Throughput = 2000.00 kg/h
1/0/0 R-101 Stirred Reactor 426,000 426,000
Vessel Volume = 0.35 m3
1/0/0 R-102 Stirred Reactor 467,000 467,000
Vessel Volume = 687.94 L
1/0/0 GR-101 Grinder 75,000 75,000
Rated Throughput = 1920.60 kg/h
1/0/0 V-101 Receiver Tank 47,000 47,000
Vessel Volume = 1913.15 L
1/0/0 GR-102 Grinder 71,000 71,000
Rated Throughput = 901.74 kg/h
1/0/1 PFF-101 Plate & Frame Filter 235,000 470,000
Filter Area = 2.62 m2
1/0/0 V-103 Blending Tank 215,000 215,000
Vessel Volume = 3849.62 L
1/0/0 GR-103 Grinder 70,000 70,000
Rated Throughput = 469.67 kg/h
1/0/1 R-103 Stirred Reactor 602,000 1,204,000
Vessel Volume = 4345.76 L
1/0/0 RDR-103 Rotary Dryer 36,000 36,000
Drying Area = 5.16 m2
1/0/0 GR-104 Grinder 71,000 71,000
Rated Throughput = 887.92 kg/h
1/0/0 V-108 Blending Tank 153,000 153,000
Vessel Volume = 340.15 L
1/0/0 GR-105 Grinder 69,000 69,000
Rated Throughput = 184.91 kg/h
1/0/2 V-111 Blending Tank 218,000 654,000
Vessel Volume = 4.34 m3
1/0/0 SP-101 Screw Press 108,000 108,000
Throughput = 0.36 MT/h
1/0/0 GBX-106 Generic Box 177,000 177,000
Rated Throughput = 2639.25 kg/h
1/0/0 GBX-107 Generic Box 177,000 177,000
Rated Throughput = 2639.25 kg/h
1/0/0 GBX-108 Generic Box 177,000 177,000
Rated Throughput = 2639.25 kg/h
1/0/0 V-112 Blending Tank 201,000 201,000
Vessel Volume = 2415.30 L
1/0/0 GBX-109 Generic Box 1,475,000 1,475,000
Rated Throughput = 2639.25 kg/h
1/0/0 V-106 Blending Tank 176,000 176,000
Vessel Volume = 956.58 L
1/0/0 RDR-101 Rotary Dryer 127,000 127,000
Drying Area = 20.25 m2
1/0/1 TM-101 Tumble Mixer 49,000 98,000
Vessel Volume = 1958.82 L
1/0/5 BGBX-102 Batch Generic Box 170,000 1,020,000
Vessel Volume = 2.42 m3
1/0/0 HX-101 Heat Exchanger 11,000 11,000
Heat Exchange Area = 2.06 m2

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 1/0/0 SR-102 Shredder 78,000 78,000
Rated Throughput = 2632.62 kg/h
1/0/0 HX-105 Heat Exchanger 7,000 7,000
Heat Exchange Area = 0.03 m2
1/0/0 V-104 Blending Tank 197,000 197,000
Vessel Volume = 2067.28 L
1/0/0 SCR-101 Stationary Screen 1,000 1,000
Rated Throughput = 975.41 kg/h
1/0/0 HX-103 Heat Exchanger 7,000 7,000
Heat Exchange Area = 0.35 m2
1/0/0 V-105 Flash Drum 1,000 1,000
Vessel Volume = 26.19 L
1/0/0 HX-104 Heat Exchanger 7,000 7,000
Heat Exchange Area = 0.21 m2
1/0/0 HX-103. Condenser 32,000 32,000
Condensation Area = 0.36 m2
1/0/0 V-102 Blending Tank 237,000 237,000
Vessel Volume = 7.80 m3
1/0/1 V-109 Blending Tank 217,000 434,000
Vessel Volume = 4.15 m3
1/0/0 GBX-102 Generic Box 66,000 66,000
Rated Throughput = 507.81 kg/h
1/0/0 GBX-103 Generic Box 66,000 66,000
Rated Throughput = 507.81 kg/h
1/0/0 GBX-104 Generic Box 66,000 66,000
Rated Throughput = 507.81 kg/h
1/0/0 V-110 Blending Tank 159,000 159,000
Vessel Volume = 459.85 L
1/0/0 GBX-105 Generic Box 549,000 549,000
Rated Throughput = 507.81 kg/h
1/0/3 BGBX-101 Batch Generic Box 145,000 580,000
Vessel Volume = 1.85 m3
1/0/0 SR-101 Shredder 70,000 70,000
Rated Throughput = 508.26 kg/h
1/0/1 V-113 Blending Tank 206,000 412,000
Vessel Volume = 2.85 m3
1/0/0 GBX-110 Generic Box 53,000 53,000
Rated Throughput = 349.69 kg/h
1/0/0 GBX-111 Generic Box 53,000 53,000
Rated Throughput = 349.69 kg/h
1/0/0 GBX-112 Generic Box 53,000 53,000
Rated Throughput = 349.69 kg/h
1/0/0 V-114 Blending Tank 151,000 151,000
Vessel Volume = 317.84 L
1/0/0 GBX-113 Generic Box 439,000 439,000
Rated Throughput = 349.69 kg/h
1/0/2 BGBX-103 Batch Generic Box 116,000 348,000
Vessel Volume = 1.27 m3
1/0/0 SR-103 Shredder 69,000 69,000
Rated Throughput = 348.28 kg/h
1/0/0 RDR-102 Rotary Dryer 23,000 23,000
Drying Area = 0.23 m2
1/0/0 RDR-104 Rotary Dryer 23,000 23,000

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 Drying Area = 0.09 m2
1/0/0 HX-106 Heat Exchanger 7,000 7,000
Heat Exchange Area = 0.02 m2
1/0/0 HX-102 Heat Exchanger 7,000 7,000
Heat Exchange Area = 0.19 m2
1/0/0 PM-101 Centrifugal Pump 9,000 9,000
Pump Power = 0.02 kW
Unlisted Equipment 3,195,000
TOTAL 15,977,000

2. FIXED CAPITAL ESTIMATE SUMMARY (2018 prices in $)

3A. Total Plant Direct Cost (TPDC) (physical cost)

1. Equipment Purchase Cost 15,977,000
2. Installation 6,516,000
3. Process Piping 5,592,000
4. Instrumentation 6,391,000
5. Insulation 479,000
6. Electrical 1,598,000
7. Buildings 7,190,000
8. Yard Improvement 2,397,000
9. Auxiliary Facilities 6,391,000
TPDC 52,530,000

3B. Total Plant Indirect Cost (TPIC)

10. Engineering 13,132,000
11. Construction 18,385,000
TPIC 31,518,000

3C. Total Plant Cost (TPC = TPDC+TPIC)

TPC 84,048,000

3D. Contractor's Fee & Contingency (CFC)

12. Contractor's Fee 4,202,000
13. Contingency 8,405,000
CFC = 12+13 12,607,000

3E. Direct Fixed Capital Cost (DFC = TPC+CFC)

DFC 96,655,000

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Tables 3a, 3b and 4c provide information on the assumed unit costs and the calculated annual amounts
and costs for a) raw materials, b) labor and c) utilities, respectively. The total annual cost of raw materials
was calculated to be around $63 million per year. From these, about 54% ($34.5 million) is the cost of
cocoa beans raw material, followed by sucrose and milk powder with 22% and 20% of total raw material
costs, respectively. According to Table 3b, the cost of labor was estimated around $17.3 million per year.
Table 4c displays the utilities costs. The annual expense for utilities is expected to be around $1.1 million.
The cost of electricity is the predominant utility cost.

3a. MATERIALS COST - PROCESS SUMMARY

Annual
Bulk Material Unit Cost ($) Annual Cost ($) %
Amount

Air 0.00 101,513,793kg 0 0.00

Bleaching Earth 0.30 23,760kg 7,128 0.01
Cocoa Beans 2.20 15,681,600kg 34,499,520 54.37
Glucose 0.70 1,186,809kg 830,766 1.31
K2CO3 0.30 108,929kg 32,679 0.05
Lecithin 2.20 356,063kg 783,340 1.23
Milk Powder 2.40 5,353,450kg 12,848,280 20.25
Stones 0.00 158,400kg 0 0.00
Sucrose 0.80 17,272,269kg 13,817,815 21.78
Vanillin 10.00 63,169kg 631,691 1.00
Water 0.00 794,024kg 2,382 0.00
TOTAL kg 63,453,601 100.00
NOTE: Bulk material consumption amount includes material used as:
- Raw Material
- Cleaning Agent
- Heat Transfer Agent (if utilities are included in the operating cost)

3b. LABOR COST - PROCESS SUMMARY

Labor Type Unit Cost Annual Amount Annual Cost %

Operator ($/ )
69.00 ( )
250,329 ($)
17,272,671 100.00
TOTAL 250,329 17,272,671 100.00

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 4c. UTILITIES COST (2016 prices) - PROCESS SUMMARY

Utility Unit Cost Annual Ref. Annual Cost %

Std Power $
0.10 9,277,554 kW-h ($)
927,755 83.87
Steam 30.00 2,443 MT 73,286 6.63
Steam (High P) 35.00 2,492 MT 87,206 7.88
Cooling Water 0.05 126,765 MT 6,338 0.57
Chilled Water 0.40 28,971 MT 11,589 1.05
TOTAL 1,106,173 100.00

Figure 2 provides a breakdown of the total annual operating costs. Clearly raw materials, facility-
dependent (annualized fixed capital investement, maintenance etc.) and labor have the highest
contribution to the total annual operating costs. Raw materials, in particular, account for 62% of the total
operating cost, while facility-dependent and labor costs account for 18% and 17% of the total operating
cost, respectively.

Figure 2: Annual Operating Cost Breakdown (%)

Table 5 is extracted from the profitability analysis of the EER and summarizes the annual production
rates and the selling prices of each co-product of the cocoa processing plant. Finally, Table 6 provides an
executive summary. The total CAPEX required was estimated to be about $109 million. If the selling
prices of the co-products are set according to Table 5, then the expected annual revenues are about
$140 million, and the expected payback time is around 6 years.

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5. PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS (2018 prices)

H. Revenue/Savings Rates
Milk Chocolate (Main Revenue) 20,703,166 kg /yr
Choco Flavored Powder (Revenue) 8,087,707 kg /yr
Alkalized Cocoa Powder (Revenue) 1,900,611 kg /yr
Dark Chocolate (Revenue) 3,973,501 kg /yr
White Chocolate (Revenue) 2,700,384 kg /yr
Cocoa Powder (Revenue) 757,024 kg /yr

I. Revenue/Savings Price
Milk Chocolate (Main Revenue) 4.00 $/kg
Choco Flavored Powder (Revenue) 2.00 $/kg
Alkalized Cocoa Powder (Revenue) 3.00 $/kg
Dark Chocolate (Revenue) 5.00 $/kg
White Chocolate (Revenue) 5.00 $/kg
Cocoa Powder (Revenue) 3.00 $/kg

J. Revenues/Savings
Milk Chocolate (Main Revenue) 82,812,666 $/yr
Choco Flavored Powder (Revenue) 16,175,415 $/yr
Alkalized Cocoa Powder (Revenue) 5,701,834 $/yr
Dark Chocolate (Revenue) 19,867,504 $/yr
White Chocolate (Revenue) 13,501,920 $/yr
Cocoa Powder (Revenue) 2,271,073 $/yr
1 Total Revenues 140,330,412 $/yr
2 Total Savings 0 $/yr

6. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (2018 prices)

Total Capital Investment 108,930,000 $
Capital Investment Charged to This Project 108,930,000 $
Operating Cost 102,648,000 $/yr
Main Revenue 62,709,000 $/yr
Other Revenues 54,785,561 $/yr
Total Revenues 117,494,000 $/yr
Cost Basis Annual Rate 20,902,870 kg MP/yr
Unit Production Cost 4.91 $/kg MP
Net Unit Production Cost 4.91 $/kg MP
Unit Production Revenue 5.62 $/kg MP
Gross Margin 12.64 %
Return On Investment 16.61 %
Payback Time 6.02 years
IRR (After Taxes) 9.61 %
NPV (at 7.0% Interest) 17,939,000 $
MP = Total Flow of Stream 'beta-Cyclodextrins'

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Summary
This example demonstrated the simulation of a cocoa processing plant in SuperPro Designer. As
indicated by the preceding analysis, a cocoa processing plant that produces dark, milk and white
chocolate, natural and alkalized cocoa powder, and chocolate flavored powder, with capacity of about
15,700 ton of cocoa beans per year requires a total CAPEX of around $109 million and annual operating
expenditures (including depreciation) of around $104 million. The predominant cost is the cost of the
cocoa beans raw material, followed by the cost of depreciation for a new facility and the cost of labor.
This clearly indicates that depreciated facilities have a considerably lower production costs. The payback
time of this investment was estimated to be about 6 years, making it an attractive and profitable
investment.

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References
Anonymous, 2018, https://www.statista.com/statistics/238849/global-chocolate-consumption/,
Beckett S.T., 2009a, Traditional Chocolate Making, in Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use, 4th
Edition, Edited by S.T. Beckett, Blackwell Publishing, UK
Beckett S.T., 2009b, Conching, in Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use, 4th Edition, Edited by S.T.
Beckett, Blackwell Publishing, UK
Fowler M.S., 2009, Cocoa Beans, From Tree to Factory, in Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use, 4th
Edition, Edited by S.T. Beckett, Blackwell Publishing, UK
Kamphuis H.J., 2009, Production and Quality Standards of Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter and Cocoa
Powder, in Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use, 4th Edition, Edited by S.T. Beckett,
Blackwell Publishing, UK
Talbot G, 2009, Chocolate Temper, in Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use, 4th Edition, Edited by
S.T. Beckett, Blackwell Publishing, UK
Ziegler G., 2009, Flavour Development in Cocoa and Chocolate, in Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and
Use, 4th Edition, Edited by S.T. Beckett, Blackwell Publishing, UK
Ziegler G.R. and Hogg R., 2009, Particle Size Reduction, in Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use,
4th Edition, Edited by S.T. Beckett, Blackwell Publishing, UK
G.R. Ziegler and R. Hogg

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