Throughput and mass balance

Keep three numbers apart

State incoming material, intermediate product and packed output separately, each with its time basis: kg/h, kg per batch, or kg per day tied to stated operating hours. A machine rating usually describes one stream under defined conditions, so it cannot be compared with a packed-output target until the streams are connected.

Water that remains in the pulp belongs to the pulp mass. Wash water that leaves the process before extraction does not. Record both on separate lines, otherwise a yield ratio quietly changes meaning between two quotations. A combined pulp-mass ratio can exceed 100% when retained water is included; the calculator below is deliberately limited to 0.1–100%, so record that case as fruit recovery plus added water instead of forcing it into one ratio.

The examples use round assumptions to make the arithmetic visible. Replace every assumption with your own measured trial result before using a number for procurement.

• Review the capacity basis →
• Agree the mass and solids basis →

Example 1 — whole fruit to frozen pulp

Assume a whole-fruit feed of 1,200 kg/h, a measured accepted-pulp yield of 45% of fruit mass over the same interval, a 2% loss during filling and a 10 kg pack. The yield is a trial result, not a catalogue value, and any process water retained in the pulp is already inside it.

Accepted pulp is 1,200 × 0.45 = 540 kg/h. Packed product is 540 × 0.98 = 529 kg/h, which is about 53 packs of 10 kg per hour. One pack therefore represents 10 ÷ (0.45 × 0.98) ≈ 22.7 kg of whole fruit. If the measured yield were 38%, the same feed would give 447 kg/h packed, so the trial result changes the equipment duty, not just the report.

Example 2 — purchased pulp repacking

A repacking project does not have a fruit yield. Assume 2,000 kg/h of purchased pulp arriving in bulk, a 1.5% loss during transfer and filling, and a 20 kg bag. Packed output is 2,000 × 0.985 = 1,970 kg/h, or about 98 bags per hour.

Here the incoming stream is already pulp, so the equipment duty follows the receiving format, the preparation step and the filler cycle rather than any extraction assumption. Change the bag size and the completed-package rate changes even when the pulp flow stays the same.

Example 3 — beverage base dilution

A beverage base is a formulation, so the pulp demand follows the target solids rather than a packing loss. Assume 500 kg/h of pulp at 12% total solids and a target base of 1,000 kg/h. The pulp brings 500 × 0.12 = 60 kg/h of solids, so a base made only by adding water would contain 6% solids.

To hold 9% solids at 1,000 kg/h the base needs 90 kg/h of solids, which is 750 kg/h of the same pulp plus 250 kg/h of other material. The arithmetic shows the pulp demand for each formulation; it does not confirm that the recipe, stability or treatment is acceptable.

• Review the beverage-base route →

Change the assumptions

The calculation below inherits the three numbers above. Change the fruit input, measured yield, packing loss or pack size and the result updates in this browser; nothing is submitted. The yield field is accepted pulp mass — including any process water retained in it — divided by whole-fruit mass. It is limited to 0.1–100%; if retained water would make the pulp mass exceed the incoming fruit mass, record fruit recovery and added water separately rather than forcing a combined ratio into this tool.

What the arithmetic cannot settle

The calculation converts a measurement into a duty; it does not create the measurement. Seasonal lot variation, preparation differences, cleaning time, changeover, treatment hold-up and freezer or packing availability all change what a line achieves over a day.

Use the result to ask better questions: which stream the supplier is quoting, which loss assumption is included and which stage limits the schedule. Send the arithmetic with the enquiry so a proposal can confirm or correct the assumptions instead of guessing them.

• Compare quotations on one basis →
• Test the duty across the production window →