Design, development, testing and optimization of a citrus juice extractor

Abstract

A calamansi citrus (x Citrofortunella mitis (Blco) J. Ingram & H. Moore) juice extractor was designed, fabricated and tested for performance. After a performance test of the first prototype, a slicer section was added to prevent squeezing of the fruit peel and seeds that results in the extraction of juice with a bitter taste. The slicer cuts the fruits into halves, then allows the fruit halves to fall into a rotary drum presser that extracts the juice and separates it from the peel, the pulp and the seeds. In the second prototype that was fabricated and tested, the operational parameters were optimized using the Response Surface Method (RSM) approach. Fruit size was an important independent variable that significantly affected all responses, except for extraction efficiency, at 95% level of significance. Drum clearance had a significant effect on feeding capacity, extraction efficiency, overall acceptability and capacity ratio. The speed of the presser had no significant effect on all the response variables at 95% significance level. Superimposition of five contour plots of the responses yielded the optimum extraction parameters for small fruits: 60 rpm and 4 mm clearance. Second-order polynomial (SOP) models predicted the response values adequately and the results of the verification tests indicated that the actual responses were close to the predicted values.

Source or Periodical Title

Philippine Agricultural Scientist

ISSN

317454

Page

273-282

Document Type

Article

Subject

Calamansi (x Citrofortunella mitis (Blco.) J. Ingram & Moore), Design, Development, Juice extractor, Performance testing, Response surface methodology

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