High power of ultrasonic extraction machine for fruit juice with heating tank

High power of ultrasonic extraction machine for fruit juice with heating tank

Ultrasonic extraction is an efficient, low-temperature technique for fruit juice production that uses ultrasonic waves to enhance juice yield and quality. Ultrasonic extraction machines for fruit juice are specialized equipment that use high-frequency sound waves (20–40 kHz) to break down fruit cells, and they’re categorized by scale, design, and functionality to fit different production needs. Ultrasonic extraction relies on two key physical effects to break down fruit tissues:

Cavitation effect: High-frequency sound waves create tiny bubbles (cavities) in the liquid. These bubbles rapidly expand and collapse, generating intense local pressure to rupture cell walls.
Mechanical vibration: The ultrasonic waves cause continuous vibration of fruit particles, accelerating the release of intracellular substances (e.g., juice, flavor compounds) into the solvent.

Compared to traditional methods (e.g., pressing, thermal extraction), it offers distinct benefits:

Higher juice yield: More effective cell wall disruption releases 10–30% more juice, especially from fruits with tough skins (e.g., berries, citrus).
Better nutrient retention: Operates at near-ambient temperatures (20–40°C), minimizing the loss of heat-sensitive nutrients like vitamin C and antioxidants.

Superior flavor and color: Reduces thermal damage to flavor compounds and pigments, resulting in juice with fresher taste and more stable natural color.
Shorter processing time: Typically completes extraction in 10–30 minutes, much faster than traditional soaking or pressing methods.

Common Application Process A standard ultrasonic extraction workflow for fruit juice includes 4 steps:

Pretreatment: Wash and cut fruits into small pieces (5–10mm) to increase contact area; some hard fruits (e.g., apples) may require blanching.
Ultrasonic treatment: Mix fruit pieces with a small amount of water (or juice as solvent) in an ultrasonic reactor, set frequency (20–40kHz) and power (100–500W), and process for 15–30 minutes.

Filtration/separation: Use a filter (100–200 mesh) or centrifuge to separate juice from pomace (fruit residues).
Post-treatment: Conduct pasteurization (if needed) and clarify the juice (via centrifugation or enzyme addition) to improve clarity.

Raw material preparation: Select biological raw materials rich in target vitamins, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, grains or microorganisms, and perform pretreatment, including washing, chopping, drying, crushing and other operations, to increase the contact area between the raw materials and the solvent and improve the extraction efficiency.

Extraction solvent selection: Select a suitable solvent according to the properties of the target vitamin. For example, for water-soluble vitamins, polar solvents such as water and ethanol-water solution are more commonly used; for fat-soluble vitamins, non-polar solvents such as n-hexane and petroleum are often used.

Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction (UAE), as an efficient and environmentally friendly separation and extraction technology, has become a key technology for optimizing production processes, improving product quality, and promoting the transition to green manufacturing in modern industry due to its unique mechanism of action and significant advantages.

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most mature areas for the application of ultrasonic extraction, and its importance is directly linked to drug quality and production economics:
Extraction of active ingredients from traditional Chinese medicines: Traditional Chinese medicine decoctions are time-consuming (several hours), resulting in low dissolution rates of active ingredients (such as alkaloids, flavonoids, and saponins), and high temperatures can damage active ingredients. Ultrasonic extraction can shorten extraction times to 30 minutes to 2 hours, increase active ingredient dissolution rates by 20%-50%, and prevent degradation of active ingredients (such as in the extraction of baicalin and artemisinin), thereby ensuring the efficacy and stability of traditional Chinese medicine preparations.

In the biopharmaceutical field, it is used for the separation of microbial fermentation products (such as antibiotics and enzymes) and the extraction of active peptides (such as collagen and growth factors) from animal tissues. Its mild extraction conditions (primarily at room temperature) preserve the structural integrity of biomacromolecules, reduce the difficulty of subsequent purification, and improve the purity and yield of biopharmaceuticals.

Ultrasonic extraction can quickly produce highly active, high-purity raw materials for health supplements, such as proanthocyanidins from grape seeds, wolfberry polysaccharides from wolfberries, and phycocyanin from spirulina, meeting the health supplement industry's demand for "natural and effective" ingredients while reducing production costs.

The importance of ultrasonic extraction to modern industry lies in its fundamental reshaping of the "industrial production model" through technological innovation. It not only addresses the efficiency, cost, and pollution challenges of traditional processes, but also aligns with the core development direction of modern industry: "greening, efficiency, and quality." Against the backdrop of global energy shortages, increasing environmental pressures, and evolving consumer demand, ultrasonic extraction has evolved from an "optional technology" to an "essential technology," becoming a crucial support for industrial enterprises to reduce costs, increase efficiency, enhance competitiveness, and achieve sustainable development.

Parameter:

Application
Pharmaceutical industry: In the production of vitamin drugs, ultrasonic extraction can be used to extract vitamins from natural raw materials as active ingredients of drugs, such as extracting B vitamins from yeast and extracting vitamin E from plant oils and fats.
Health care products industry: Used to produce vitamin health products, extract vitamins from natural plants or animal tissues, and make various vitamin tablets, capsules, oral liquids and other products to meet people's demand for vitamin supplements.
Food additives: Extracted vitamins can be used as food additives to fortify foods, such as adding vitamins to beverages, dairy products, cereal products, etc. to improve the nutritional value of food.