90 Tons Edible Ice Production Line Case Study

Ice looks simple. Drop water in a machine, wait, get ice. But walk into a real edible ice factory and you'll find something more complicated—water treatment rooms, negative-25-degree freezing chambers, automated packaging lines, and control rooms full of PLC monitors.

This post documents exactly what Hanjiangxue Ice Factory installed when they built their 90-ton-per-day edible ice line with Icemedal.

No marketing language. Just the equipment, the numbers, and what happened after startup.

The Brief: Building a 90-Ton Edible Ice Production Line

Hanjiangxue is a newly established edible ice supplier in China. Before installing their line, they were buying ice from wholesalers—which meant inconsistent quality, unpredictable supply, and no control over packaging.

They came to Icemedal with a straightforward brief:

· Output: 90 tons of cube ice per day

· Quality: Crystal-clear cubes that melt slowly

· Packaging: High-capacity bagging and cup filling

· Food safety: Full traceability from water to finished product

"We were buying ice and reselling it," the Hanjiangxue team explained. "The quality was never stable. We decided to make our own. That's when we needed someone who could handle the whole project, not just sell us a machine."

How the Production Line Works

Here's the system Icemedal designed and installed, from raw water intake to finished packaged ice.

Step 1 — Water Purification

Everything starts with water. The line uses a four-stage filtration system:

Sand filter — removes sediment and large particles

Activated carbon filter — strips chlorine and organic matter

Water softener — reduces hardness to protect equipment

RO reverse osmosis — removes 99%+ of dissolved solids

Purified water then flows through 304 stainless steel pipelines directly to the ice machine. No open tanks. No secondary contamination risk.

Step 2 — Ice Making

The core of the line is the Icemedal cube ice machine, rated at 90 tons per day. It runs inside a climate-controlled workshop kept at 5°C.

Key specifications:

304 food-grade stainless steel throughout (with ice storage bin, chutes)

PLC control system with touchscreen— operators see output, energy use, and fault alerts in real time

Uniform cube formation — consistent dimensions, sharp edges, even thickness.

Step 3 — Quick-freezing

The ice cubes are transported via a food-grade stainless steel conveyor belt to a system equipped with a comprehensive intelligent temperature control system and a proprietary quick-freezing unit. This rapidly freezes the ice cubes, resulting in a dry, impurity-free product with significantly improved melt resistance, thereby reducing transportation losses.

The rotary drum ice screening unit simultaneously performs four tasks:

1. Removes surface moisture from the ice cubes to keep them dry

2. Separates clumped ice cubes

3. Smooths sharp edges on the ice cubes

4. Removes crushed ice

The drum features a 304 stainless steel mesh conveyor surface—smooth and with uniform spacing—ensuring the ice cubes do not shatter or crack during processing.

Step 4 — Packaging

The packaging stage encompasses all of the following processes:

Secondary ice screening to remove residual crushed ice (over 98% integrity rate)

Multi-head weighers that measure ice cubes with ±1 gram accuracy

A bagging line capable of packaging 18–25 bags per minute

A filling line equipped with automatic cup sorting and cup dispensing

Heat-shrink packaging to protect against dust, moisture, and contamination

Each product undergoes metal detection before leaving the production line

Step 5 — Ice Storage

Finished product flows into a cold storage maintained at -18°C.

The PLC system ties everything together:

Equipment coordination across all five stages

Real-time production metrics

Remote alarm notifications for faults

Real Numbers After 6 Months

After commissioning, Hanjiangxue tracked performance against their original targets:

Common Questions About Edible Ice Production Lines

How much does a 90-ton edible ice production line cost?

The cose based on automation level, site preparation, and local regulations. Icemedal provides detailed proposals after get your daily capacity, available space, and budget range.

What's the difference between quick-freezing ice and regular ice?

Quick freezing at -25°C reduces the internal crystal and removes surface moisture before storage. The result: ice that doesn't clump, doesn't melt as quickly, and doesn't break during handling. For customers who care about presentation, this is noticeable.

Can the production line produce different ice shapes?

This specific line produces cube ice. Icemedal also offers tube ice, flake ice, and block ice machines for different applications. Contact our sales  team to discuss ice shape you want.

How long does installation take?

For a 90-ton ice cup production line like Hanjiangxue's, installation typically takes 2-4 months from contract signing to first ice production. Timeline depends on site preparation (foundation, electrical, water supply) and whether custom engineering is required.

Is RO water treatment really necessary for edible ice?

Municipal water varies widely in mineral content and chlorine levels. Without treatment, ice can taste or smell off, especially in regions with high hardness. RO purification removes variables—consistent water in means consistent ice out. It's standard practice in serious edible ice operations.

Ready to explore your production line project?

Contact Icemedal's  sales team directly. We provide customized proposals, factory visit arrangements, and reference facility tours so you can see the equipment running before committing.