Juice extraction with the decanter centrifuge: sweet and sour cherries, peaches and apricots

Abstract

The decanter centrifuge was shown to be applicable to juice extraction from sweet and sour cherries, apricots and peaches. The machine was fed fruit mash at incrementally higher flow rates and the suspended solids in the output juice were measured with a high-speed laboratory centrifuge. Accepting 3% (w/w) suspended solids as an acceptable level, machine capacity was about 0.36 kg/s (2800 lb/h), 0.38 kg/s (3000 lb/h), 0.23 kg/s (1800 lb/h), and 0.1 kg/s (790 lb/h) for peaches, sour cherries, apricots and sweet cherries, respectively. Peaches required pectolytic enzyme treatment for extraction of low suspended solids juice but sour cherries could be processed with or without enzyme treatment. Apricot proved more difficult to juice than peaches, requiring pectinase treatment and slower feed rates to achieve juice separation. Sweet cherries proved difficult to juice, requiring both low feed rates and extensive enzyme digestion for extraction. Nevertheless, with all fruit tested, yields of juice exceeded 80% (w/w) and were usually between 90 and 95%.