Just about any product you use today, from food to laundry soap to petrol, has been processed in some way or another. The only way to process large quantities of product is to do so in some type of processing plant. Some raw materials, such as oil, require processing techniques that are unique to that particular material; many other products, however, utilise similar processing practices and equipment. Let’s look at some of the miscellaneous plants and machinery that are common in industry today.

One type of processing plant that many of us couldn’t live without is a cocoa processing plant. The process begins with roasted cocoa beans. Typically, the shells (nibs) are removed after roasting and are made into a paste, which is compressed in order to produce chocolate liquor. The liquor is formed into a cake and pressed again to release the cocoa butter. The cakes are ground to make baking cocoa, and the cocoa butter is combined with sugar, milk and other ingredients in order to form chocolate bars, chips, and other moulded chocolate.

Some machinery used in chocolate processing is similar to that used in other processing plants. One of these machines is a winnowing machine, which is used to separate the cocoa beans from the nibs. These types of machines are also used in the processing of wheat to separate the chaff from the grain.

A cocoa processing plant and the tools within are just one of the many, many miscellaneous plants and machinery that make our world what it is today.