The new Dh30-million ice factory couldn't come at a better time, say its proprietors, as the mercury shoots up.
With ice demand expected to peak across the country at roughly 3,000 metric tonnes per day this summer, Modern Ice Factory's new plant at Dubai Investment Park will add an extra 350 metric tonnes of ice per day to the market.
The new 100,000 square-foot facility will produce everything from tube ice for restaurants to giant ice blocks needed for fish markets and concrete mixers.
"The demand for ice has been increasing by 10 per cent every year," said the factory's spokes-person and industrial consultant, Hamid Jung. "Our new plant will help fill that need." In cooler months, Jung estimates that the peak demand for ice is roughly 600 tonnes per day.
With the help of ammonia compressors, each of the four giant tanks chills 2,500 litres of water to minus 15 degrees centigrade every 45 minutes in order to create drinking-glass ice cubes. They are then fed into an adjacent room and packed, said engineer Suresh Parjapati.
Each tank, he said, can produce up to 1.2 tonnes of cube-ice per hour or roughly 30 tonnes of ice every 24 hours.
Quality matters
With all four lines running, Modern Ice Factory will churn out 120 tonnes of tube ice every day, said Jung.
With so many UAE residents and visitors consuming ice to stay cool in summer, Jung said it is imperative that the factory's ice is as pure as possible, hence the ‘Pure Ice' brand name. When behemoth ice makers are permanently switched on, the factory will produce some of the most thoroughly tested and healthiest ice cubes in the city, he added.
In fact, Modern Ice Factory promises ice that exceeds government health specs through on-site laboratory testing for things like E.coli and salmonella.
It depends on city water filtered through sand, charcoal, stone and subjected to ultraviolet rays.
Fast facts
- Each of the cube-ice lines produces roughly 1.2 tonnes of ice every hour or up to 30 tonnes of ice every 24 hours
- The factory also produces 25kg and 200kg blocks for food services and industrial use
- The factory is the sixth plant of the same Al Shaer corporate family, which also operates Gulf Ice in Sharjah
(Source: Modern Ice Factory)
