Appendix I: Manufacturing Process of Gum Acacia

Acacia Gum – Description of the product

A – Harvest and processing steps in Africa

By definition (JECFA), Gum arabic is a dried exudate obtained from the stems and branches of Acacia
senegal (L.) Willdenow or Acacia seyal (fam. Leguminosae)

Acacia Senegal is a bushy tree, having a wide

distribution in Africa and Western Africa. It is found in a
belt extending across the continent from the Red Sea to
the Atlantic coast, particularly north of the Equator. In
these regions, A. Senegal is present on a variety of soil
and climates, from the desert fringe to the moist
savanna, and grows equally well on soils ranging from
light sandy to clays.
Acacia seyal is a small to medium size tree, up to 10 -12
m height. The tree is also present on a variety of soils
depending on the general environment conditions in each
particular location. It can growth from a tropical moist
type savanna vegetation, to the desert (preferably on the
wettest sites).

Gum collection is an important occupation of the

farmers and bushmen, during the dry season (from
December to may). For Acacia senegal, tapping of
the trees must take place short after the end of rainy
season, by opposition to A. seyal trees which do not
need to be tapped, and where the gum is formed
from cracks on the trees. Gum exudation starts a few
days after the beginning of the dry season or tapping,
but the first collection is made only few weeks (2 – 6
weeks) after. Then subsequent picking are made
every 2 – 4 weeks after, depending on the weather. A
second campaign of tapping can occur for A. Senegal
during the dry season.

The physiological process of gum exudation (= gommosis) is described in the article from “gums and
hydrosolubles naturals hydrocolloids”

All these operations (tapping and collection) are

manual. Acacia trees forest occurs naturally in the
bush, there is no plantations nor farms of cultivated
trees. Nomads, who herd their cattle in dry savanna,
and farmers in local villages, are the people in charge
of the gum harvest. They bring and sell their small
quantities of gum to the village market, after a few
days of sun drying on canvas sheet, to limit the
formation of block (the gum is sticky when freshly
harvested). The village merchant accumulate the
production gradually, until enough is collected to be
sold on the main market.

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There, the buyers and gum companies centralize
the gum harvest in warehouses, and clean the
gum before packing and exportation. Cleaning
operation are manual, made by women. It
consist in a visual inspection of each lump of
gum, in order to detect and remove any foreign
material which could be present into the gum
(piece of bark, leave, piece of wood...). A color
classification, still visual, is also made in order to
group together lumps having the same tint.
Finally, a manual sieving is made to sort out the
lump by size, before packing. Packaging is made
in jute bags or in polypropylene bags of 50 kg
each. Exportation consist of full container of gum
of the same grade (Senegal or seyal / color /
lump size) to France.

B – Available sales form of Acacia gum

- Raw Acacia gum

The acacia gum presented in its raw form

consist in the first and historical sales
presentation of the product. It is still sold like
this to industrial end users for food application
(mainly confectionery and wine industry). The
only treatment of the product consist in sorting
out manually the lumps, based on their size,
colour, and visual aspect

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 - Kibbled Acacia gum

The Kibbled acacia gum is a second form of

presentation of the substance available on the
market. To achieve this kibbled form of product,
the process consist in grinding the raw acacia
gum with a mechanical hammer, in order to
reduce the size of the gum lumps into smaller
pieces varying from hundreds of micron to few
millimeters. After kibbling, the product can be
sieved and screened in order to remove the
biggest wood / bark particles from the product,
and any other foreign material coming from the
trees and the harvest (seeds, leaves, pods...).
This commercial form is traditionally used in
confectionery industry (in view of its later
dissolution), but also sold to consumers for
traditional use mainly in India for the elaboration
of home made pastries, and for traditional dishes
for women after pregnancy.

Layout of the kibbling process :

  2 – Mechanical Grinding

1 - Raw acacia gum

3 - Sieving

4 - Packaging
2
5

,
0
5
0

The kibbled acacia gum is also the starting material for the two others commercial form of the
substance : powdered acacia gum and spraydried acacia gum

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 - Powdered Acacia gum

The powdered Acacia gum (or pulverized acacia

gum) is a third commercial grade of the
substance. To achieve this form, the process
consist in milling finely the kibbled acacia gum
into very fine powder (which looks like flour).
This form is mainly used for dusting application
in confectionery (where the powder is dusted on
the surface of candies), and for pharmaceuticals
application (where special powder density is
expected for pills).

Layout of the powdering process :

  2 – Mechanical Grinding

1 - Raw acacia gum

3 - Sieving

  4 - Powdering

5 - Packaging

2
5
,
0
5
0

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 - Spray-dried Acacia gum

The last available grade of acacia gum is the spray

dried form. This is the main form of use of the product
over the world. Here, the process rely on a natural
property of the acacia gum, its ability to dissolve into
water, in order to achieve a finer purification of the
product (by mechanical means) before recovering its
original solid form.

In detail, the acacia gum (in kibbled form) is dissolved

into water, under stirring, at warm to hot
temperature. Thanks to the previous kibbling step and
to the size reduction of the lumps, it takes about 20
minutes to dissolve completely the acacia gum, and to
obtain a liquid, slightly viscous, containing natural
impurities. These impurities consist of insoluble
foreign matters like wood particle, piece of bark,
leaves, stone, seeds, or sandy particles

The next step of the process is a succession of purification steps, based on a solid / liquid
separation principle. The acacia gum in liquid form pass through rough sieves, static
decantation tanks, centrifuge system, and fine filtration units (up to 1 micron depending on
the level of purification targeted), to remove insoluble foreign material from the acacia gum
itself.

These purification steps are physical and mechanical, and rely on :

- the difference of solubility : acacia gum is soluble, impurities are not soluble
- the difference of density between the acacia gum in liquid form, and the impurities in
solid form, and

The last step of the process consist in spraydrying the acacia gum after heat treatment of the
solution. The acacia gum in liquid form pass through a heat plate exchanger to reduce the
microbiological load of the product, before spraying the solution into a stream of hot air. The
water is evaporated (to some extend), and the acacia gum is collected in powder form at the
end of the dryer, before packing.

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 Layout of the spraydrying process :

2 – Dissolution into water

1 – Kibbled
Acacia gum

4 – Heat treatment
2
5
,
0
5
0

3 – Purification : sieving / centrifuge / decantation / filtration

5- Spray drying 6 - Packaging

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