Chapter 8.60

8.60-Low Cost Manual Fruit Juice Press

Santiago Lievano Perdomo , University of Guelph, Canada

Figure 3 – Manual fruit press (alibaba.com)

Suggested citation for this chapter.

Perdomo,SL. (2022)Low Cost Manual Fruit Juice Press, The Encyclopedia for Small Scale Farmers. Editor, M.N. Raizada, University of Guelph, Canada. http://www.farmpedia.org

Background Information

Africa produces several types of fruit. The most important are bananas, pineapples, dates, figs, olives, and citrus (FAOSTAT, 2022). According to FAOSTAT, in 2022, Africa produced 43% of the world’s dates and more than 15% of the world’s bananas, pineapples, and oranges. Unfortunately, many fruits in developing nations are lost because there is no practical way to store them or prevent deterioration (Torvaney, 2021). Producing fruit juice is an excellent way to preserve fruit. Furthermore, farmers, especially women, can have a new source of income by producing fruit juices. It would be ideal if local refrigeration or freezers are available to preserve the juices. In some cases, the residuals of preserving fruits can also be used for different purposes, as shown in this article.

In addition to income generation, fruits are excellent sources of micronutrients and promote human nourishment. It is true that, in most cases, it is healthier to consume whole fruits than fruit juice (Baird, 2013). Some fruits, like bananas, are easier to consume without extracting their juice. However, it is also true that there are “bioavailable micronutrients and plant bioactives at levels similar to those found in whole fruits” (Ruxton, C.H.S., 2021).

This article presents a simple method to make a low-cost manual fruit juice press, as well as pre-existing, low cost options available for purchase. They do not require electricity or complex maintenance activities; electric and sophisticated press devices produce heat, “causing a loss of nutrients, thus reducing the juice quality and the shelf life (Nnamdi et al., 2020)”. A manual press is simple, cheap, and an average farmer can make it. This article presents several options.

Figure 1 – Orange Juice extractor (pexels.com).

Advantages Of Making Fruit Juice With A Manual Press

Storage:

Making fruit juice is an effective way to process and store fruit nutrients, which reduces wastage (Nnamdi et al., 2020), including for oranges, lemons, apples, dates, and cashews (Figure 1). It is a practical way to preserve the nutrients by storing the fruit juice in bottles. It is recommended to store the juice at low temperatures. Heat degrades the nutrients very quickly, but when frozen, like in the case of orange juice, the nutrients can be preserved for months or even years (Nnamdi et al., 2020).

Transportation:

It is easier to transport the final product in the form of juice than transport the whole fruit with non-edible parts, like the peel and seeds, which increase the weight (Figure 2). For example, producing orange juice has an extraction efficiency of 34.25%, according to a test done with a manual press in Nigeria (Samaila et al., 2008). It means that for every 100 kg of oranges, the final product, orange juice, weighs 34 kg. Transporting these oranges would require an additional load of 66 kg in the form of peel, seeds, and fiber that are waste.

Figure 2 – Transportation of oranges (pexels.com)

Reusing the waste:

The residual product of producing fruit juice can be reused. For example, in the case of dates, “these residues are rich in carbohydrates, dietary fibers, antioxidants, and phenolic compounds, making them a suitable feedstock for processing to a variety of value-added products (Oladzad et al., 2021).” Alternatively residual products can be added into compost to help farmers to add nutrients into the soil.

A business opportunity:

If a large group of farmers work together, they can become entrepreneurs and produce fruit juice on a medium or large scale to sell nationally or internationally. One example is what Hamza Hashim made in 2013 in Sierra Leone. He describes, “For several months a year in Sierra Leone, pineapples and mangoes fall from trees by the tonnes. Nevertheless, without an easy route to market or efficient storage facilities, they are often left to rot, with the growers eking out a subsistence on what little they can sell by the roadside or in local markets (Torvaney, 2021)”. A farmer may consider the fruits at his farm to have a low value, but if the juice is extracted and distributed, the value of the fruit increases. For example, the fruit juice business in Sierra Leone (Torvaney, 2021) reported: “At Taima junction, we would buy baskets of 10 pineapples for 10,000 leones (around $2 at the time). But in Freetown, a single pineapple would cost 15,000 leones, and that’s if you could find one at all.” An excellent way to distribute fruits is by producing juice and packing them in bottles.

In general, using a manual machine for extraction has the following benefits: it saves time, improves efficiency, increases capacity, and reduces spoilage and waste.

There Are Several Options: Start Simple, Test, And Scale It Up

It is advisable to start with simple ideas, then make them more complex, and, through a learning process of failure and success, develop the best option to fit a farmer’s needs.

A simple juice press:

Simple devices in the market are available to press fruits individually (Alibaba, 2024). They are simple and cheap manual devices. They consist of a lever with a handle that, when the hands press the fruit, gives force to a metallic pair of flat plates or a couple of cup-shaped pieces that extract the fruit juice (Figure 3). The liquid goes through holes in one of the metallic pieces. They are cheap but limited to pressing one-by-one fruit. It is suitable for a single person or family that can purchase it for just a few dollars.

Figure 3 – Manual fruit press (alibaba.com)

Using a car jack:

Farmers can manufacture more complex machines using wood, a few metallic parts, and a car jack (manual or hydraulic) to press the fruits (Figure 4). This configuration’s critical element is creating a solid frame with wood on the top and the bottom and four metallic bars in the corners. A small square plywood board will compress the fruits, or pieces of fruits, with the help of the car jack. The juice will function on a stainless steel plate or similar towards a small container below. Detailed instructions are available in public videos on YouTube (see below under Practical Resources). The fruit cut-in pieces might be contained inside a mesh or canvas that works like a filter, separating the juice from the residual fibers and seeds.

Figure 4- Manual fruit press using a carjack (YouTube.com)

A more complex press: There are more productive options, like a manual juice press tested and used in Nigeria (Samaila et al., 2008). Farmers can use it with several types of fruits. The following section describes the parts that form it and how to use it.

About The Device’s Parts And Its Use.

The diagram shows the press components created in Nigeria (Figure 5) (Samaila et al., 2008).

Figure 5 – Medium scale fruit press (Samaila et al., 2008).

Part 1. Metallic handle. The operator pressures the chopped fruit by rotating this handle.

Part 2. long screw.

Parts 3, 4, and 10 are pieces of the metallic frame. The elements are welded together and made of 50 mm angle bars.

Part 5. Two cups. They are cylinders of stainless steel with the lower tap only. They are open on the top. The interior cup is smaller, fits inside the bigger one, and has several holes 2 mm in diameter. The external cup is 258 mm deep and 270 mm in diameter. This cup is welded to the base of the frame. The inner cup with holes is 224 mm deep and 230 mm in diameter.

Part 6. A flange that connects the screw with the plywood piece below.

Part 7. The pressing plate is made of at least 30 mm thick plywood.

Part 8. Exit tube support.

Part 9. Frame supports

Part 11. Exit tube. The juice flows from the external cup out to a container.

An operator puts chopped fruits inside the inner cup to operate the machine. Canvas bags are recommended to separate the juice from the solid parts.

The operator then rotates the handle to induce pressure on the mass inside the cups. The juice flows through the little holes in the inner cup, towards the outer cup, and then to a recipient through the exit tube.

This manual press has an extraction efficiency of 34.25% for oranges, 56.69% for tomatoes, and 99.93% for watermelons (Samaila et al., 2008). Efficiency is the weight of juice obtained divided by the weight of the original product in percentage.

Critical Analysis

First, not all the fruits are squeezable. Second, remember that eating whole fruit is healthier than consuming fruit juice because fruit fiber is also consumed (Baird, 2013). In some cases, it is a good idea to make juice fruit.

Excess pressure can destroy the machine, primarily if a car jack is used. It is not necessary to put excessive pressure on any of these devices. A car jack can lift 2 tons, and that force can destroy the wooden parts in a manual fruit press.

The process of pressing fruit by hand is tedious, time-consuming, has limited capacity, and is unhygienic (Baird, 2013). In most cases, it requires peeling fruits, which must be done under hygienic conditions. The operators must clean the machine after every use and maintain hygienic conditions. Otherwise, the fruit juice will be contaminated. It is also essential to use clean water and clean all containers and bottles. The fruit juice contains sugar that could promote the growth of dangerous bacteria and fungi.

Fruit juice must be appropriately stored because high temperatures affect its quality. Orange juice, for example, if frozen, can last for a long time, even years before expiration (Nnamdi et al., 2020).

One method to preserve juice fruit is to pasteurize it. Good result were obtained when “pineapple [juice] were pasteurized at 85 °C for 30 seconds, hot-filled in glass bottles, and stored in refrigerated conditions (5 °C)” (Wurlitzer, 2019).

Conclusions

Pressing fruits to obtain juice is a good idea for storing, maintaining, and selling fruit products. Many simple manual devices do not need electricity, and a farmer can build one without an expensive investment. There are several business opportunities for farmers working together to collect fruits, select, clean, chop, and press them to produce juice, like Sierra Leone’s successful company.

The recommendation is to start simple and learn during the process of making more complex machines. The most important part is not the machine; it is the process of using it and making good use of the fruit juice produced.

References

1. Alibaba (2024) Portable Lemon Orange Sugarcane Squeezer, 304 Stainless Steel Hand Juicer Press Extractor Mini Manual Citrus Juicer/ - Buy Lemon Squeezer 304 Stainless Steel Manual Citrus Juicer,Hand Press Manual Juicer,Stainless Steel Manual Juicer Product on Alibaba.com. (n.d.). www.alibaba.com. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Portable-Lemon-Orange-Sugarcane-Squeezer-304_1600053354561.html?spm=a2700.7724857.0.0.62f810f1Yjvkik

2. Baird, C. S. (2013, December 2). Is fruit juice healthier than whole fruit? [Review of Is fruit juice healthier than whole fruit?]. Science Questions with Surprising Answers. https://www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2013/12/02/is-fruit-juice-healthier-than-whole-fruit/

3. Cantadori, E., Brugnoli, M., Centola, M., Uffredi, E., Colonello, A., & Gullo, M. (2022). Date fruits as raw material for vinegar and Non-Alcoholic fermented beverages. Foods, 11(13), 1972. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11131972

4. Encyclopedia Brittanica (n.d.) Africa - Fruits and vegetables. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Africa/Fruits-and-vegetables

5. Nnamdi, U. B., Onyejiuwa, C. T., & Ogbuke, C. R. (2020). Review of orange juice extractor machines. Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal, 5(5), 485-492.

6. Oladzad, S., Fallah, N., Mahboubi, A., Afsham, N., & Taherzadeh, M. J. (2021). Date fruit processing waste and approaches to its valorization: A review [Review of Date fruit processing waste and approaches to its valorization: A review]. Bioresource Technology, 340(125625), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125625

7. Ruxton, C.H.S.; Myers, M. (2021) Fruit Juices: Are They Helpful or Harmful? An Evidence Review. Nutrients 13, 1815. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061815

8. Samaila, R. S., Olotu, F. B., & Obiakor, F. I. (2008). Development of a manually operated fruit juice extractor [Development of a manually operated fruit juice extractor]. Journal of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (JAET), 16(2), 22–28.

9. Torvaney, J. (2021, February 28). Creating a fruit juice business in Sierra Leone: The story of Sierra Juice. How We Made It in Africa. https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/creating-a-fruit-juice-business-in-sierra-leone-the-story-of-sierra-juice/

10. Vayalil, P. K. (2012). Date Fruits (Phoenix dactylifera Linn): an emerging medicinal food. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 52(3), 249–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2010.499824

11. Wurlitzer, N. J. (2019). Tropical fruit juice: effect of thermal treatment and storage time on sensory and functional properties. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 56(12), 5184–5193. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6838290/

Chapter 8.60

Contents

8.60-Low Cost Manual Fruit Juice Press

Santiago Lievano Perdomo , University of Guelph, Canada

Background Information

Advantages Of Making Fruit Juice With A Manual Press

There Are Several Options: Start Simple, Test, And Scale It Up

About The Device’s Parts And Its Use.

Critical Analysis

Conclusions

Further Reading

References

Navigation menu

Chapter 8.60

8.60-Low Cost Manual Fruit Juice Press

Santiago Lievano Perdomo , University of Guelph, Canada

Background Information

Advantages Of Making Fruit Juice With A Manual Press

There Are Several Options: Start Simple, Test, And Scale It Up

About The Device’s Parts And Its Use.

Critical Analysis

Conclusions

Further Reading

References

Navigation menu

Search