Technology Integration for Cashew Processing Machines
Automate and connect your existing line
Retrofit PLC automation, colour sorting, sensors and material handling into an existing cashew line — raising yield and cutting labour without replacing the whole plant.
TTQ integrates PLC automation, optical sorting, sensor-based moisture control and shell-fired energy systems into new and existing cashew plants — raising whole-kernel yield and cutting labour and fuel per tonne. Rather than replacing a working line, the right technology goes in stage by stage, which is the practical path for processors modernising an older or semi-automatic factory. Integration is scoped per plant; contact us for an assessment.
What's included
PLC & controls
Add programmable control and automated handling to existing machines.
Optical colour sorting
Integrate a CCD colour sorter to hold white-grade export specs.
Sensors & food safety
Moisture meters and metal detection for QC and HACCP compliance.
Energy integration
Tie in a shell burner or biomass boiler to cut fuel cost.
One manufacturer, end to end
Higher yield, less labour
Automation lifts whole-kernel output while reducing headcount.
Keep what works
Upgrade in stages instead of scrapping a functioning line.
Vendor-agnostic
We integrate around your existing machines where practical.
Commissioned & trained
Every upgrade is commissioned and your operators are trained.
Integration is not the same as replacement. Most plants that need modernising have machines worth keeping and one or two stages that hold everything else back — usually sorting and steam. The work is to find those stages, fix them, and connect what remains so the line runs at one pace instead of five.
Core integrations
PLC & line controls
central control panels coordinate feeders, conveyors, sieves and fans so the line runs at a matched pace. One operator oversees stages that previously needed several, and the line stops as a line rather than one machine at a time.
Optical colour sorting
chute sorters at 500–1,000 kg/h for compact plants, belt sorters at 1–3 t/h with 18 cameras and 252 channels for export lines. Both sit after roller grading and remove testa specks, scorch and foreign material that grading by size cannot see.
Moisture & process sensing
moisture metering at intake (8–10%), after borma drying (3–4%) and at packing (3–5%). Getting these three right is what keeps peeling breakage low and prevents mould claims after shipment.
Steam & energy integration
steaming at 3–4 bar for 20–25 minutes from shell-fired boilers of 300–4,000 kg steam/h at 90–95% combustion efficiency, so the plant runs largely on its own by-product, with recovered heat carried into borma drying.
Packing-line integration
a kernel sorting line at 1,000–1,500 kg/h feeding auto-weighing vacuum packers at 50–70 packs/h, with in-line metal detection because export compliance is checked at the pack, not at the machine.
The retrofit path
- Audit. Every stage measured under load, not at rest — throughput, moisture, breakage and where the line waits.
- Bottleneck map. Which stage sets the pace of the plant, and what the next one would be once that is fixed.
- Staged upgrades. Sorting and steam first in most plants, because they carry the largest yield and fuel effect for the smallest disruption.
- Controls unification. Once the stages are capable, tie them together so the line runs as one machine.
- Operator training. New capability that nobody was taught to use reverts to the old settings within a season.
Most upgrades install without stopping a season's production for more than a few days per stage, which is why the staging order matters as much as the equipment list.
Humidification is usually the missing stage
On plants with high peeling breakage the cause is almost never the peeler. Kernels leave borma drying at 3–4% moisture and are brittle; peeled at that moisture they shatter. A humidification room brings the surface back to 5–6% so the testa releases and the kernel survives. Plants without one blame the peeling machine for years — see how humidity affects cashew peeling.
Current daily throughput, a machine list with ages, your available power and steam capacity, and your top quality complaint. That last one is the most useful of the four. We come back with an integration plan and a costed proposal.
The process, drawn
Where PLC control belongs
"PLC-controlled" is applied loosely across the industry. On a TTQ plant it means one specific thing.
- RCN cleaning Debris and stone removal
- Calibration Size grading
- Steaming Pressure and cycle
- Cooling & feeding Into the shelling line
- Shelling machine Blade depth set per size band
- Peeling machine Drum speed and air
- Borma dryer Digital temperature + moisture display
- Humidifier Regulated RH and dwell
Buying a PLC layer for an individual machine buys very little. The automation that changes headcount is the integrated line that prepares and feeds the nuts.
The moisture ladder
Every number a cashew plant lives or dies by is a moisture number. Read left to right — this is the same journey as the eight stages, seen through water content.
Stages 03 and 04 look contradictory and are not. Drying makes the skin brittle; humidification softens only the outer surface so the skin lets go without the kernel softening with it.
What actually uses compressed air
Over-specifying the air system is a common and expensive mistake, because the shelling stage is widely assumed to need air. It does not.
Match the compressor to peeling head count: 30 HP for one head, 50 for two, 75 for three, 100 HP for four. Colour sorters can be plugged into the plant system instead of running their own compressor, but they do not have to be.
Watch a TTQ line run
Technology Integration for Cashew Processing Machines — FAQ
Can you automate a manual plant gradually?
What information do you need for a proposal?
Can you automate my existing cashew line?
Do I have to upgrade everything at once?
Will it help with export food-safety specs?
Related solutions & machines
Talk to TTQ about Technology Integration for Cashew Processing Machines
Tell us your target capacity, grades and location — we’ll come back with a costed proposal.