Debittering of Orange Juice with the Whole Flavour Using Expanded Bed Chromatography in a Vortex Flow Reactor

Orange juice debittering processes were triggered in the late 1970s to market the juice and not waste the extra seasonal citrus production. Today, economically viable industrial processes include a common step of packed bed chromatography to remove the bitter components from clarified orange juices and make them more palatable to consumers. Prior to packed bed chromatography, it is necessary for the juice to undergo pre-treatments that can lead to a change in organoleptic properties. In this sense, the prior separation of the flavour and the further addition of this flavour to the processed juice increases the complexity of the process. This chapter proposes and tests the use of a new technology, expanded bed chromatography in a vortex flow reactor, in which the orange juice retains the whole aroma. This technology avoids heating the orange juice and the need to separate the flavour compounds from the orange juice, with the consequent benefits of reducing the number of technology steps, saving energy costs and reducing the volume of treated cleaning solution released into the environment.