In the past, citrus fruit was only sold fresh on the market as it was difficult to guarantee its preservation. The turning point in citrus fruit history came only in the forties, with the introduction of modern extraction processes in the West. Nowadays, Triowin develops and introduces the first Citrus Juice Extractor in China.

Washing, Brushing, Selection & Possible Grading

This evergreen, which originates in China and Japan, was introduced to Italy by the Arabs in the 14th century. The orange contains citric acid, sugar, vitamins and mineral salts for the production of marmalades, juices, essential oils and perfumes. There is a red variety, the blood orange that unfortunately is becoming more difficult to find because of the increased availability of the seedless variety. The top perfume houses use the expensive orange blossom essential oil.

Juice Extracting

There may be different types of transformation processes but they all have common end products and derivatives which mainly are juice, essential oil, pulp and skin. Triowin extraction machines supply intermediary products of three types:

• ·Juice/Pulp (40-55%)
• ·Essential oil (0.2-0.7 %)
• ·Skin (40-55%)

These percentages are indicative and may vary according to type or origin of fruit and even climatic conditions.
Amongst the different types of extraction used for recovering juice and essential oil, the In-Line System, which is the most, used at a worldwide level. With this Triowin system extraction of essential oil and juice is carried out simultaneously. During extraction, the skins don’t come into contact with the juice. The result being that the juice quality is extremely high, even ideal for drinkable fresh juice. Before the extraction process, it is necessary to grade the fruit.

Juice Refining

Once the extraction of juice and essential oil is over, the manufacturing processes that follow vary according to geographic position, production company size and market specificities. Especially in Mediterranean countries, the juice, straight out of the extractors before being pasteurised, undergoes a final refining before reducing the content of solid matter to as little as under 0,5%. Without doubt the majority of lemons, oranges, grapefruits and mandarin oranges will then be pasteurised and concentrated.

Pasteurisation

After refining, the product is pasteurised in plate type or tubular type machines. The citrus fruit risks a drop in quality if kept at room temperature beyond date limits. With non-pasteurised juice, the problem is turbidity, separation, gelatinisation of concentrates and microbiological fermentation. All these problems can be avoided with thermal pasteurisation which, on the contrary, given the thermosensitivity of citrus juices, provokes some variation in the taste and colour. This way, pasteurisation optimisation is strongly linked to the process objective. Thermal treatment is normally done between 90°C and 95°C for 15-60 seconds. If necessary, the juice may need to undergo “de-bitterisation” treatment.

Concentration

After pasteurisation and possible “de-bitterisation”, the juice is ready to be concentrated. The concentration installations operate by physical separating of water and allowing for savings in juice preservation and transportation. Fresh, concentrated orange juicer and then frozen (FCOJ) has without doubt, a worldwide commodity. Triowin’s Falling Film Evaporator can concentrate and also pasteurise juice and also deactivate enzymes.