Juice Processing Machine

Juice processing machine mainly involves fruit and vegetable washing and sorting machine, crushing, peeling and pitting machine, fruit juice extracting machine, juice filtering and enzyme treatment machine, juice blending machine, juice concentrating and sterilizing machine, juice filling machine, CIP cleaning system, etc.

The juice processing machines are all made of SUS 304/316L food grade and all the machines have good design to avoid the dead angle to ensure the food safety condition.

We have designed different juice extractors to make the fruits or vegetables into juice with maximum juice yield rate according to the features of the different fruits.

The whole juice production process is gentle and flexible, retaining the original nutrition, color and flavor of the juice to the maximum extent. Thanks to the reasonable process, minimized waste of raw materials can be realized by our juice processing machines.

The key parts of our juice processing machines are adapted to use the world-famous brand, such as ABB/SEW motor, Siemens PLC, Danfoss inverter, IFM level sensor, JUMO temperature sensor, E+H flowmeter, Tetra Pak/Afla Laval valves, Spirax Sacro steam control system, Mettler Toledo load sensors; All the SUS304/316L plates/rolls are sourced from Bao Steel or POSCO; All of these make our machines are rigid and low maintenance cost.

The capacity of the juice processing machine is from 500L/H-15000L/H available, and the end products can be filled into bottles, metal cans, aseptic bags, pouches, and cartons according to different end products produced.

According to the juice production process, fruit juice can be divided into concentrated juice, NFC juice, and reconstituted juice.

Concentrated juice: The concentrated juice is made from fresh fruits or vegetables. After the juice is extracted, the evaporator will be used to remove water in the juice to increase the solid matter and Brix. The concentrated juice can be packed into 220L barrels or IBC containers used as raw material for juice making, dessert and smoothie making due to its high viscosity and high solid content.

NFC juice: NFC juice is single-strength juice after juice extraction from fresh fruits and vegetables without any evaporation. The NFC juice can be pasteurized/UHT sterilized and filled into consumable containers such as bottles, cartons or metal cans. It usually has a fresher and more natural flavor than reconstituted juice.

Reconstituted juice: The reconstituted juice usually uses the concentrated juice as raw materials, adding water to dilute the concentrated juice into consumable juice, and then pasteurizing/sterilizing and filling into bottles, cans or pouches.

The fruit washing machine is mainly used for cleaning the surface of the fruits and vegetables, removing dirt and foreign objects. Sometimes the disinfectant solution will also be dosed into the fruit washing machine to decrease the load of contaminants and remove pesticide residue. The fruit bubble washing machine, brush washing machine and drum washing machine are used to clean fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sorting to remove decayed and moldy fruit is also necessary to make sure that the final juice will not have a high microbial load, or undesirable flavors. In this station, the roller sorting machine and belt sorting machine are used for sorting the fresh fruits and vegetables.

This process is highly customized according to different fruit features. We can choose the machine that is suitable for your fruits when talking about the specified fruits.

• Some fruits need to peel prior to juice extracting such as citrus, banana, carrots, mango, pineapple, etc. The peeling process and machines are also different.
• Many stone fruits such as peach, apricot, plum, mango, avocado, dates need to remove the fruit stones before crushing and juice extracting.
• Papaya, pomegranates, passion fruits, grapes need to remove the seeds before juice extraction.

The fruit crushing machine is to break down the cell tissue of fruits, the crushed fruit size of 3-5mm diameter is recommended. The hammer mill is the most commonly used machine for the fruit crushing. Whereas the tooth crusher and stemmer crushers are also used for soft fruits and special fruits.

To increase the juice yield rate, crushed fruit or mash passes through the tubular heat exchanger to heat the material to 60-80℃, during the heating process, the enzymes that aid to obtain the higher juice yield rate can be dosed into the fruit pulp/mash.

The juice extraction machine is a core process in juice processing machine lines. The appropriate juice press is directly related to the yield rate and quality of juice.

The juice-extracting machine is divided into two types:

• squeezing juice extractors( screw press, belt press, roller press, hydraulic press) are using the squeezing force to separate the juice from the solids/mashes;
• Centrifuge separators(decanter centrifuge and disk stack centrifuge separator) are using centrifuge force to separate the juice from fruit mash.

In clear juice production, especially for clear apple juice or grape juice processing, after the juice is extracted, mechanical separation and chemical separation will be used.

• The most commonly used juice mechanical filtration and separation machines are disk centrifuge separator and ultra-filtration machine combined method, diatomaceous earth filtration can also be used for clarified juice;
• In chemical separation, dosing pectinase enzymes, gelatin, casein, and tannic acid–protein combinations into juice, to break down the emulsion and allow the particles to sink to the bottom of the juice enzyme tank.

The juice blending tanks are used in the reconstituted juice dilution production line. The concentrated juice and RO pure water will be pumped into the juice blending tanks to mix evenly according to the formula and recipe.

In the NFC juice production line, the blending tanks can be used as a standardized tank, the sugar and acid can be dosed into the juice tanks to adjust the juice flavor with consistency in every tank.

This process involves removing a significant portion of the water content from the juice while retaining the essential flavors and nutrients. The falling film evaporator is most commonly used in concentrated juice production. Fruit juice is concentrated by controlled evaporation of water, the major constituent of the juice. Because of the possible loss of aroma constituents, the first major step is stripping of volatiles from which aromas can be recovered.

Pasteurization of the finished juice and hot filled into bottles or metal cans. Hot filling is conducted by passing the final juice through a tubular or plate heat exchanger and raising the temperature to 88 to 95℃. A holding time of 1-3 min is normally applied to the juice prior to cooling. This hot-fill process is adequate for highly acidic beverages such as apple, cranberry, cherry, and grape juice. The maximum pH allowed for the hot-fill process is normally 4. A shelf life of high-quality retention can range from 9 to 12 months in bottles or cans. Post-bottling pasteurization is also applicable to acidic juices. A continuous tunnel pasteurizer or a batch system can be selected to perform the heating and cooling operations.

UHT sterilization of the finished juice and aseptic filled into cartons or bottles. This type of juice is mainly used for making NFC high-quality juice. The juice will be heated to 121-130℃ and held for 3-5S, then cooled down to 25-30℃ and filled into the tetra pak cartons or bottles. The shelf life will also reach to 12months.

When making the concentrated juice, the juice can be pasteurized and filled into bag in barrels and then the concentrated juice will be stored into -18℃ warehouse to achieve the stable shelf-life; The concentrated juice can also be UHT sterilized, and filled into the aseptic bags, for the acid concentrated juice, with this processing method, the concentrated juice shelf life can also reach 12-24 months.

In all phases of juice production, design and assurance of clean and safe operations are important. Daily cleaning and sanitation of the plant with routine shutdowns will ensure the maintenance of a clean operation and prevent the buildup of trouble spots, the CIP cleaning system can achieve this goal very well.

The CIP system uses acid and alkali solution, and hot water to spray the juice processing machines and pipelines without disassembling them. By implementing an efficient CIP system, juice processing plants can maintain product quality, prevent contamination, and meet strict hygiene and safety standards, ultimately ensuring the production of safe and high-quality juice products.