Process Plants for Egypt's Nile Valley Crops and Aromatic Plants

Egyptian agricultural land is confined to the Nile Valley and Delta, with a few oases besides, and the whole crop area is irrigated apart from some rain-fed land on the Mediterranean coast. Reclaimed desert areas are farmed as well. Tomatoes, onions and garlic are among the main vegetable crops, and they suit industrial processing. Tomatoes are processed by concentration into paste or by gentle drying into powder, while onions and garlic are dehydrated into flakes, granules and powder for seasoning and food-ingredient use.

Date palms are cultivated from the Nile Valley and Delta to the oases of the Western Desert, and the fruit can be pitted, extracted and concentrated into syrup or paste, with evaporators handling the concentration step. Medicinal and aromatic crops are a farm business of importance for domestic and external markets, and chamomile is cultivated in Fayoum, Beni Suef and neighbouring governorates. Such herbs are dried and sold whole, steam-distilled for essential oils, or extracted for botanical ingredients. Fish farms around the Nile Delta leave by-products that can be turned into oil through cooking, pressing and separation.

The buyers who would use such equipment include food manufacturers and ingredient packers, essential oil and flavour houses, herbal and natural-products makers, and fisheries processors. Where extraction is done with solvents, a recovery distillation unit keeps solvent losses and handling risks under control, which is why the solvent plants are listed alongside the extraction lines.