Spray drying and process optimization of sour orange juice

In this study, production of sour orange juice powder utilizing a spray dryer was investigated. To prevent stickiness, maltodextrin DE 12 was used as a drying agent. While feed flow rate, feed temperature, and air flow rate were kept constant, inlet air temperature (120–160 °C) and maltodextrin content (maltodextrin dry solids/100 g feed mixture dry solids; 10–20%, w/w) were selected as the independent variables. Product properties investigated included ascorbic acid, volatile compounds, and moisture content. Ascorbic acid retention, volatiles retention, and moisture content were used in optimization of the process by response surface methodology. The optimum inlet air temperature and maltodextrin content were 156 °C and 20% w/w maltodextrin, respectively. This study revealed that by applying these optimal conditions, sour orange juice powder with 81.5% ascorbic acid retention, 5.5%, w/w moisture content, and 78% volatiles retention was produced