Orange Juice Powder Production

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This example describes a process for producing dehydrated orange juice powder. The process consists
of the following steps: fruit preparation (washing, sorting, and sizing), concentrated juice production
(extraction, finishing, concentration, and pasteurization), formation of powder and packaging.
The complete removal of water, which is the most important component in weight, extends the shelf-life
of orange juice by reducing water activity which is known to facilitate the development of microorganisms
and enhance the activity of enzymes and chemical agents. Moreover, weight and volume reduction
translates into reduced package, transport, handling and storage costs. Orange juice powder is used in
the production of foods and beverages including pastry products, powdered drinks, etc.
This example analyzes a continuous plant that processes a single type of oranges (Valencia late) of
uniform size (210 grams per fruit on average) to produce dehydrated orange juice. The plant operates
1920 hours per year and produces 1 MT/h of powder by processing 16.61 MT/h of oranges. Additional
byproducts include peel oil, which is recovered and sold to cosmetics manufacturers, and solid wastes
(peel and pulp), which are dried and sold as animal feed.

IMPORTANT TOPICS

Flowsheet Sections
A flowsheet section is a group of unit procedures that have something in common. For instance, the
orange juice powder production flowsheet has been divided into three sections: 1) Fruit Preparation, 2)
Juice Production, and 3) Powder Production (see process description below). All the unit procedure icons
of the Fruit Preparation section are displayed in black, whereas the icons of the Juice Production and
Powder Production sections are displayed in blue and green, respectively. For information on how to
specify flowsheet sections and edit their properties, please consult the User’s Guide (sections 2.2b and
8.1) or the Help documentation of the software.

Product Formulation, Packaging, and Distribution

Product formulation and packaging operations often involve formation and use of discrete entities, such
as tablets, bottles, boxes, bags, etc. The flow of such entities is represented by discrete streams, which
are displayed by default in blue color. In this example, a packaging unit procedure (P-25/FL-101) is used
to fill the bulk orange juice powder into plastic bags. For more information on discrete streams and
entities, please consult the User’s Guide (section 4.3) or the Help documentation of the software.

PROCESS DESCRIPTION

Fruit Preparation Section

The raw materials (oranges) are initially transported to a storage bin (P-1/SB-101) and inspected to make
sure they meet processing requirements. The certified fruit (5.4 oBrix or 5.4% soluble solids) is then
washed (P-2/WSH-101) to remove dirt, foreign objects and contaminants. The consumption of wash
water is about 140 L/MT of fruit. Sorting (P-3/GBX-101) is also necessary to eliminate fruit exhibiting
defect or decay and maintain product quality. The fruit must also be sized (P-4/GBX-102) in different
categories to facilitate juice extraction.

Juice Production Section

Next, the fruit is fed to a FMC juice extractor in which juice is removed from the fruit (P-5/GBX-103) and
peel oil is washed off the peel surface (P-7/GBX-104). Note that in reality, both juice and oil extraction
take place in the same equipment. The raw juice is then strained to remove heavy solids in the pulp (bits
of peel, seeds, and heavy flesh) using a finisher (P-8/CSP-101). For complete depectinization, enzymatic
clarification (P-10/V-101) is also required. This is followed by fine filtration (P-12/PFF-101) to completely
remove insoluble solids. Clear juice is then pasteurized in a plate heat exchanger consisting of preheating
(P-13/HX-102) and pasteurization (P-14/HX-103). Subsequently, the juice is fed to a multi-effect
evaporator (P-16/EV-101) where concentration from about 12 to 65 oBrix occurs in four effects. The
evaporator is equipped with a built-in mechanical vapor recompression system for reduction of steam
consumption. A condenser (P-17/HX-105) is employed after the last effect to create the vacuum that is
necessary for multi-effect evaporation. Also, aromatic compounds are recovered (P-28/GBX-105) and re-
introduced to the concentrated orange juice (P-20/MX-104).
In addition, the solid orange wastes from the juice extractor (P-7/GBX-104), the finisher (P-8/CSP-101)
and the press (P-12/PFF-101) are dried using a rotary air-dryer (P-26/RDR-101) to a moisture content of
less than 10%. The dried product is sold as animal feed.

Powder Production Section

To improve dehydrated juice stability, maltodextrine is added (P-21/MX-105) before proceeding to drying.
The mixture is then fed to a spray drier (P-22/SDR-101) where it is dried to approximately 3% residual
humidity by a warm air current. Subsequently, the product powder is transported using a screw conveyor
(P-24/SC-101) to the packaging unit (P-25/FL-101). Note that in reality, the product powder is cooled
down while it is being transported by the screw conveyor. The screw conveying operation does not
support cooling down of product in this release. Therefore, a cooling procedure (P-23/HX-106) has been
added after the screw conveying procedure in this example to represent cooling down of the product. In
the packaging unit, the product is packed in 25 kg bags for sale.

INPUT DATA

Plant Operation Mode and Annual Operating Time

The plant operation mode and the annual operating time are specified through the “Plant Operation
Mode” dialog. To open this dialog, click Set Mode of Operation on the Tasks menu. The plant operation
mode is set to continuous and the annual operating time is set to 1920 hours, which corresponds to 16
hours a day, 5 days a week and 24 weeks a year. It is also equivalent to 80 days of continuous (24/7)
operation.

Raw Materials
Oranges mainly consist of peel (hydrocarbons, essential oils, and water), pulp (hydrocarbons and water),
soluble solids (sugars/acids), pectin, aromatic compounds, and water. Suitable pure components and
stock mixtures are specified for the fruit by selecting Pure Components  Register, Edit/View
Properties and Stock Mixtures  Register, Edit/View Properties, respectively, on the Tasks menu. A
number of properties are also specified for each component and mixture, including molecular weight,
density, specific heat capacity, purchase price and selling price. Additional pure components, such as
HCl, bentonite, enzymes, and maltodextrine, are also specified for this example process.

Other Resources
A number of heat transfer agents are used in the process, such as low-pressure (2 bar) steam, chilled
water, cooling water and propane (as fuel). To view the properties of these heat transfer agents, click
Other Resources  Heat Transfer Agents on the Tasks menu and then double-click on the desired
item on the list. In addition, electricity consumed by unit procedures is provided by the power type named
“Std Power”. To view the properties of this power type, click Other Resources  Power on the Tasks
menu and then double-click Std Power.
Furthermore, the filtering medium in plate and frame filtration needs periodic replacement. To view the
properties of this consumable, click Other Resources  Consumables on the Tasks menu and then
double-click Polypropylene Filter.
Labor use is also calculated for the process. The amount of labor in this file corresponds to the use of a
labor resource named “Operator”. To view the properties of this labor resource, click Other Resources 
Labor on the Tasks menu and then double-click on Operator. As shown on the dialog that comes up, a
lumped unit cost of $15 has been specified for this labor resource. For each operation, the number of
operators used is specified (in labor-hours per operating hour) through the “Labor, etc” tab of the
corresponding simulation data dialog of that operation. To view this dialog, right-click on a unit procedure
to bring up its context menu and then select Operation Data.

Operating Conditions
To view or edit the simulation data of an operation, right-click on the corresponding unit procedure that
includes that operation, select Operation Data, and, if the unit procedure is not continuous, select the
desired operation. To view or edit the simulation data of an equipment resource, right-click on the
corresponding unit procedure that uses that equipment resource and select Equipment Data.

Storage (P-1/SB-101)
The fruit may remain in storage for one day. Therefore, a residence time of 1 day is specified for the
storage operation.
The feed of oranges is automatically adjusted so that 1 MT/h of powder is produced. To adjust the
process throughput, you must first select a suitable throughput reference flow. To do that, click Rate
Reference Flow(s) on the Tasks menu, switch to the “Throughput” tab and select a reference
throughput stream and flow basis. In this example, the flow of product powder (stream S-138) is used as
the throughput reference. To adjust the process throughput, click Adjust Process Throughput on the
Tasks menu. Setting a target throughput of 1 MT/h and running the M&E balances results in an oranges
feed equal to 16.612 MT/h.

Washing (P-2/WSH-101)
About 140 L of wash water (consisting of process water and 0.01% HCl) is consumed per MT of fruit. In
addition, about 0.1 kWh/MT of electricity is consumed.

Sorting (P-3/GBX-101)
The belt conveyor consumes about 0.1 kWh/MT of electricity.

Sizing (P-4/GBX-102)
The citrus fruit sizer consumes about 0.1 kWh/MT of electricity.

Juice Extraction & Oil Recovery

The maximum capacity of the juice extractor (P-5/GBX-103) is 375 oranges/min or 4.725 MT/h. During
extraction, about 98% of the peel (represented by the stock mixture named “PeelMx”) is removed from
the fruit. Also, around 0.7 kg of water per kg of peel is used to wash off the peel oil from the peel
(P-6/MX-101 and P-7/GBX-104). The amounts of electricity consumed by the juice extractor and oil
recovery system are 0.15 and 0.1 kWh/MT, respectively.

Finishing (P-8/CSP-101)
Any remaining bits of peel and around 35% of pulp are removed in the finisher. Electrical consumption is
about 1 kWh/MT.

Enzymatic Clarification & Plate FIltration

The reaction mixture in the CSTR (P-10/V-101) consists of 0.3% enzymes that are suitable for
depectinization and 0.1% bentonite to improve sedimentation of solids. The mixture is heated to 54 oC
and is then left to react for 2 hours. In that amount of time, pectin is completely hydrolyzed, producing
pectic acid and methanol. Approximately 0.965 kW/m 3 of electricity is consumed for agitation. After
cooling (P-11/HX-101), all heavy solids are completely removed from the juice using plate filters
(P-12/PFF-101). To enable continuous operation, there is an extra set of filters in stagger mode (i.e., out
of phase) for each set of filters that are operated simultaneously, so that one set of filters is online while
another set is being cleaned. For the this example, the number of equipment units in a set is equal to
one; therefore, there are two units in parallel and one is online while the other is being cleaned. Also, the
filtrate flux (6 L/m2-min) is such that a cake with a 3 mm thickness is formed in approximately 5 min. Each
filter consumes about 0.1 kW of electricity/m 2 of filter area.

Peel Drying
The peels and the pulp are mixed (P-27/MX-106) and dried (P-26/RDR-101) to a moisture content of less
than 10%. Around 0.1 kW of electricity/m 2 of drum area is consumed by the drying process.

Pasteurization
High-temperature and short-time pasteurization at 90 oC for 60 seconds is applied using plate heat
exchangers (P-13/HX-102 and P-14/HX-103).

Juice Concentration
The orange juice is concentrated in a four-effect evaporator (P-16/EV-101) from about 12 to 65 oBrix. The
downstream condenser (P-17/HX-105) is operated at a pressure of 0.096 bar and this results in a boiling
point of 45 oC in the last effect of the evaporator. The evaporator is equipped with a mechanical vapor
recompression system that results in reduced steam consumption. Additional electricity consumption (for
pumps, etc.) is about 3 kWh/MT of vapor.
Furthermore, an aroma recovery system (P-28/GBX-105) is used to recover volatile aromatic compounds
from condensed vapors. This system consumes about 0.1 kWh/MT of electricity.

Spray Drying (P-22 / SDR-101)

To reduce fouling in the spray drier, maltodextrine is added (P-21/MX-105) to the concentrated orange
juice prior to drying at a proportion equal to 6.2 kg/100 kg. The mixture is dried to 55 oC and 3% residual
humidity using dry air feed at 120 oC. The amounts of drying gas, propane and electricity used in the
drying process per MT of water vapor are 34.5 MT, 0.07 MT, and 15 kWh, respectively.

Packaging
The product powder is cooled down to 20 oC (P-23/HX-106) and is then transferred to the packaging
section. The electricity consumption in the screw conveyor (P-24/SC-101) is 0.0055 kWh/m 3-m. The
electricity consumption by the packaging equipment (P-25 / FL-101) is 0.0167 kWh/bag.

Economic data
The equipment purchase cost parameters and labor information for the most important unit procedures is
listed in the table shown below. The purchase cost of an equipment unit can be calculated using a power
law of the form C = C0 (Q/Q0)a, where Q0 is the base equipment capacity, C0 is the base cost (i.e., the
cost at equipment capacity Q0) for the reference year, a is the exponent of the power law, Q is the actual
capacity and C is the actual cost (i.e., the cost at equipment capacity Q) for the reference year. The
range of validity of the power law is defined by a low end capacity value and a high end capacity value.
For each equipment resource, the table below lists the capacity units, the low end capacity, the high end
capacity, the base cost and the exponent of the corresponding power law model. Note that if the power
law exponent is greater than zero, a base capacity equal to one is assumed. If the power law exponent is
equal to zero, the base cost is assumed constant (i.e., the equipment cost is equal to the base cost).
The purchase cost data is specified through the “Purchase Cost” tab of the simulation data dialog for an
equipment resource (right-click on a unit procedure and select Equipment Data). Labor information for
an operation is specified through the “Labor, etc.” tab of the simulation data dialog for that operation
(right-click on a unit procedure, select Operation Data, and, if the unit procedure is not continuous,
select the desired operation).

Table 1. Equipment Purchase Cost and Labor Information.

Procedure Capacity Capacity Capacity Base Cost, Power Law Operators

Units Low End High End (2008, k$) Exponent (labor-hrs/hr)
Storage m3 5 5000 5 0.45 0.1
 Washing MT/h 1 5 25 0 0.5
Sorting MT/h 1 5 20 0 10
Sizing MT/h 1 5 25 0 10
Juice MT/h 1 4.725 50 0 1
Extraction
Oil Recovery MT/h
Finishing MT/h 1 5 50 0 1
Clarification m3 1 100 50 0.6 1
Filtration m2 1 100 3 0.75 1
Peel Drying - - - Built-in - 1
Pasteurization - - - Built-in - 1
Concentration - - - Built-in - 1
Aroma MT/h 1 5 50 0 1
Recovery
Spray Drying - - - Built-in - 1
Packaging parts/min 0.24 240 150 0.67 1

The total capital investment for this process is determined as the sum of direct fixed capital (DFC),
working capital, startup & validation cost, up-front R&D cost, and up-front royalties over all flowsheet
sections. For each flowsheet section, a Lang factor equal to 3.0 is assumed. Therefore, the DFC of each
section will be three times higher than the total equipment purchase cost for that section. The latter
includes a fraction (20% of total cost) to account for unlisted equipment (i.e., equipment that is included in
the actual process but is not present in the flowsheet). The section’s working capital is estimated to cover
expenses (e.g., labor, raw materials, utilities, etc.) for about 20 working days, which is equivalent to
approximately 13 days of continuous (24/7) operation. The section’s startup & validation cost is estimated
as 5% of the section’s DFC. The section’s up-front R&D cost and up-front royalties are zero. These
parameters are specified for each flowsheet section through the section’s “Capital Cost Adjustments”
dialog. To display this dialog, select the desired section in the “Section Names” drop-down list box that is
available on the “Section” toolbar, and click on the Capital Cost Adjustments button ( ) on the same
toolbar. Alternatively, you may select Section: <section name>  Capital Cost Adjustments either on
the Edit  Process Options menu of the program or on the flowsheet’s right-click menu.
The total operating cost for this process is determined as the sum of several cost items that are either
calculated per flowsheet section (materials, waste treatment/disposal, consumables, transportation,
facility-dependent, labor, laboratory/QC/QA, heating/cooling and power utilities, and miscellaneous) or for
the entire flowsheet (advertising and selling expenses, running royalties, and failed product disposal
cost). From these, the materials cost and the waste treatment/disposal cost is based on stream
classification information.
Stream classification information is specified in the “Stream Classification” dialog. To display this dialog,
select Stream Classification on the Tasks menu. In this example file, all input streams are classified as
“raw material” streams. For each “raw material” stream, the operating cost associated with the purchase
of materials is calculated by the program based on the stream’s composition and the unit cost of each
constituent (pure component or stock mixture) specified through its properties dialog. Also, three output
streams are specified as revenue streams. These are the final product stream, the dried peels stream,
and the peel oil stream. The selling price of a revenue stream can be either set by the user or calculated
by the program based on the stream’s composition and the unit selling price of individual pure
components. In this example, the selling price of the entire dried peels streams is set to 1 USD/kg and
the selling price of the entire peel oil stream is set to 10 USD/kg. Also, a selling price of 200 USD/bag is
set for the final product stream (the stream exiting Packaging unit P-25) through its simulation data
dialog. Note that no output stream is specified as waste (solid, aqueous, or organic) or emission.
Therefore, the operating cost associated with the treatment or disposal of waste for this project will be
zero.
The cost of a consumable is determined based on the specified unit cost for that consumable (click Other
Resources  Consumables on the Tasks menu and then double-click on the corresponding item on the
list) and its usage requirements determined by the equipment specifications (right-click on the
corresponding unit procedure that uses that equipment resource, select Equipment Data to display the
simulation data dialog for that equipment resource, and switch to the “Consumables” tab). In this
example, the consumable type “Propylene Filter” is used by the plate & frame filters (P-12/PFF-101).
The rest of the operating cost items that are calculated at the flowsheet section level (facility-dependent,
labor, laboratory/QC/QA, heating/cooling and power utilities, and miscellaneous costs) are estimated
based on the parameters specified through the “Operating Cost Adjustments” dialog for each section. To
display this dialog, select the desired section in the “Section Names” drop-down list box that is available
on the “Section” toolbar, and click on the Operating Cost Adjustments button ( ) on the same toolbar.
Alternatively, you may select Section: <section name>  Operating Cost Adjustments either on the
Edit  Process Options menu of the program or on the flowsheet’s right-click menu.
Additional operating costs that are specified for the entire flowsheet, such as advertising/selling costs,
running royalties, and failed product disposal costs are zero for this project. The advertising/selling and
running royalty expenses are specified in the “Misc.” tab of the “Economic Evaluation Parameters for
Entire Project” dialog. To display this dialog, select Economic Evaluation Parameters either on the
program’s Edit  Process Options menu or on the flowsheet’s right-click menu. The disposal cost of
failed product is specified in the “Production Level” tab of the same dialog.
For more details on these parameters, please consult Chapter 9 (Economics) of the User’s Guide or the
Help documentation.

OVERALL MATERIAL BALANCES

The table below provides information on raw material requirements for the entire flowsheet. The table
was extracted from the RTF version of the Materials & Stream Report. To generate this report, select
Materials & Streams (SR) on the program’s Reports menu. The quantities are displayed in kilograms
per year, kilograms per hour, and kilograms per unit of main product (MP) entity. The last figure is the
ratio of the bulk material flow rate to the reference flow rate selected as “main product/revenue” rate in
the “Stream Classification” dialog. For this example, the “main product/revenue” rate corresponds to the
total flow of the final product stream. Therefore, one MP entity corresponds to a pack of product powder
weighing 25.4 kg. Around 40 MP entities are produced per hour.

Table 2. Bulk Materials (Entire Process)

Material kg/yr kg/h kg/bag Entity

HCl 442 0.230 0.006
Process Water 14,795,004 7,705.731 192.643
Orange 31,894,180 16,611.552 415.289
Water 10,518 5.478 0.137
Bentonite 15,623 8.137 0.203
Enzymes 46,870 24.411 0.610
Air 159,975,729 83,320.692 2,083.017
Nitrogen 3,072 1.600 0.040
Package film 27,648 14.400 0.360
Maltodextrines 151,301 78.803 1.970
TOTAL 206,920,388 107,771.035 2,694.276
COST ANALYSIS AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION
The key results of cost analysis for a plant producing 1 MT of powder per hour are listed in Table 3
below. The table was extracted from the RTF version of the Economic Evaluation Report. To generate
this report, select Economic Evaluation (EER) on the program’s Reports menu. By default, the
economic analysis assumes that a new facility will be built for this process and the project lifetime is 15
years. To support the first assumption, a section-wide cost allocation factor of 1.0 has been specified in
the “Cost Alloc” tab of the “Capital Cost Adjustments” dialog for each section. The project lifetime can be
set in the “Time Valuation” tab of the “Economic Evaluation Parameters for Entire Project” dialog. The
analysis results suggest that this investment is economically feasible.

Table 3. Executive Summary (2013 Prices)

Total Capital Investment 15,558,000 $

Capital Investment Charged to This Project 15,558,000 $
Operating Cost 14,632,000 $/yr
Main Revenue 15,360,000 $/yr
Other Revenues 3,323,267 $/yr
Total Revenues 18,683,000 $/yr
Cost Basis Annual Rate 76,800 bag Entities/yr
Unit Production Cost 190.53 $/bag Entity
Net Unit Production Cost 190.53 $/bag Entity
Unit Production Revenue 243.27 $/bag Entity
Gross Margin 21.68 %
Return On Investment 23.99 %
Payback Time 4.17 years
IRR (After Taxes) 32.11 %
NPV (at 7.0% Interest) 18,770,000 $
bag = Flow of Discrete Entity 'Powder Pack' in Stream 'Product'

The information above (as well as additional information) is also displayed in the “Executive Summary”
dialog. To display this dialog, select Executive Summary on the View menu of the program. Much more
detailed information is available in additional tables of the Economic Evaluation Report and the Itemized
Cost Report. One such table (from the EER) is the Annual Operating Cost summary table shown below.
This breaks down the total annual operating cost into several categories. A graphical pie chart
representation of this table is also shown below. This chart can be optionally included in the Economic
Evaluation Report. In general, you can choose to include or exclude charts when generating reports by
selecting Options on the Reports menu of the program to display the “Report Options” dialog, visiting
the “General (Default)” tab and checking or unchecking the option named “Include Charts”.
 Table 4. Annual Operating Cost (2013 prices) – Process Summary

Cost Item $ %
Raw Materials 8,253,000 56.40
Labor-Dependent 1,293,000 8.84
Facility-Dependent 2,750,000 18.79
Laboratory/QC/QA 194,000 1.33
Consumables 50,000 0.34
Waste Treatment/Disposal 0 0.00
Utilities 2,093,000 14.30
Transportation 0 0.00
Miscellaneous 0 0.00
Advertising/Selling 0 0.00
Running Royalties 0 0.00
Failed Product Disposal 0 0.00
TOTAL 14,632,000 100.00

Figure 1. Annual Operating Cost Breakdown.

It can be seen from Figure 1 that the cost of raw materials is the most important operating cost for this
example. Facility-dependent costs are the second-largest operating cost, and the utility costs are the third
largest. Facility-dependent costs account for depreciation, maintenance, local taxes, etc. Utility costs
include the costs of heating and/or cooling agents and the cost of power.
The table below (also extracted from the Economic Evaluation Report) provides detailed information on
the cost of materials. Clearly, the raw fruit and the depectinization enzymes are the major contributors to
this cost. However, the latter cost can be reduced significantly if enzymes are recovered and reused.
Table 5. Materials Cost – Process Summary

Unit Cost Annual Annual Cost

Bulk Material %
($) Amount ($)
HCl 0.100 442 kg 44 0.00
Process Water 0.500 14,739 m3(STP) 7,369 0.09
Orange 0.120 31,894,180 kg 3,827,302 46.38
Water 0.000 10,518 kg 0 0.00
Bentonite 0.300 15,623 kg 4,687 0.06
Enzymes 80.730 46,870 kg 3,783,816 45.85
Air 0.000 159,975,729 kg 0 0.00
Maltodextrines 1.857 151,301 kg 280,966 3.40

Unit Cost Annual Amount

Discrete Material Annual Cost($) %
($/Entity) (Entities)
Packing Bag 4.541 76,800 348,710 4.23
TOTAL 8,252,895 100.00

NOTE: Bulk material consumption amount includes material used as:

- Raw Material
- Cleaning Agent
- Heat Transfer Agent (if utilities are included in the operating cost)

Additional detailed breakdowns of various cost items for each section of the process are included in the
Itemized Cost Report. To generate this report, select Itemized Cost (ICR) on the Reports menu of the
program. Furthermore, detailed cash flow information is included in the Cash Flow Analysis report. To
generate this report, select Cash Flow (CFR) on the Reports menu of the program.

REFERENCES
1. Ashurst P. R., Chemistry and Technology of Soft Drinks and Fruit Juices, Second Edition, Blackwell
Publishing Ltd, 2005.
2. Hui Y. H., Handbook of Fruits and Fruit Processing, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2006.
3. Maroulis Z. B. and Saravakos G. D., Food Plant Economics, CRC Press, 2008.