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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #100269
Title: COMMERCIAL DEBITTERING PROCESSES TO UPGRADE QUALITY OF CITRUS JUICE PRODUCTS

Author
item Shaw, Philip - Phil
item BAINES, LEIGH - KOCH MEMBRANE SYSTEMS, IN
item MILNES, BRADFORD - KOCH MEMBRANE SYSTEMS, IN
item AGMON, GILAD - KOCH MEMBRANE SYSTEMS, IN

Submitted to: American Chemical Society Symposium Series
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/5/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Processed grapefruit juice is too bitter for many consumers, and so grapefruit juice sales have not kept pace with orange juice sales. Juice from navel oranges is also too bitter to be sold unless it is blended with nonbitter orange juice. In order to upgrade the flavor of both grapefruit and navel orange juices, a process was developed for removing the bitter components from these juices without changing other important components o the juice. This process involves removing the pulpy juice particles and then passing the clear juice through a column packed with resin beads that selectively absorb the bitter materials. The clear debittered juice is mixed with the previously removed pulpy particles to restore the citrus juice to its original state. Juice byproducts recovered from excess pulp and peel can be used as low-cost beverage bases in citrus-flavored drinks, but they have more bitterness than the juice, and usually must be debittered to be useable products. These debittering systems help citrus processors make more valuable juices from harsh and bitter citrus, and also help them utilize the byproducts that would normally be converted to low- cost animal feed.

Technical Abstract: Bitterness in citrus juice is primarily due to the presence of limonin in navel orange, and both limonin and naringin in grapefruit. Commercial systems using styrene/divinylbenzene resins to remove or decrease the levels of these bitter substances are used worldwide to upgrade juice quality. Byproducts from juice extraction (pulpwash, core wash and peel wash) which contain even higher levels of bitter substances, can be upgraded by this technique also, and sold as beverage bases. There are about 34 commercial debittering units in operation worldwide, and most use a two-step process involving ultrafiltration to clarify the juice and a neutral resin bed to remove bitter and off-flavor components from the clarified juice, followed by recombination of the pulp and juice prior to concentration in an evaporator.