Properties of steam exploded orange peel fiber as compared to commercial citrus fiber and peel powders

Authors: Dorado, Christina; Zhao, Wei; Wood, David; Plotto, Anne

Submitted to: Sustainable Food Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2025
Publication Date: 2/28/2025
Citation: Dorado, C., Zhao, W., Wood, D.R., Plotto, A. Properties of steam exploded orange peel fiber as compared to commercial citrus fiber and peel powders. Sustainable Food Technology. 3:665. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4FB00286E.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4FB00286E

Interpretive Summary: Citrus is a major fruit crop in the state of Florida. Most of which, is processed into juice. The remaining peel and membrane are converted to byproducts with little value. However, the properties of citrus peel and membrane make it an excellent candidate as a high value, gluten free fiber. Steam explosion has been used as a treatment method on citrus peel and membrane in the past, but the properties of the resulting fiber have not been studied. In this research work, we compared steam exploded citrus fiber to a commercial citrus fiber and powders. We were able to produce steam exploded citrus fiber with properties that were similar to and in some cases, better than, the commercial citrus fiber and powders. This shows that steam explosion is a viable technology for processing orange juice byproducts into high-value, gluten free citrus fibers with desirable properties.

Technical Abstract: A novel steam explosion (STEX) process was used to produce twelve steam explosion dietary fibers from orange juice processing side streams using a combination of temperature (130, 150, 170 degrees Celsius) and hold time (1,2,4,8 minutes). The STEX orange fibers were characterized and compared to a commercial citrus fiber and peel powder products. STEX produced fibers with far greater water retention and water swelling capacities as compared to the commercial fiber and peel powder products. Steam explosion fibers with median sample diameters and insoluble, soluble, and total dietary fiber values similar to those of the commercial fiber product were possible. Desirable properties obtained by steam treatment did not lie with a single temperature and hold time combination. This work shows that steam explosion can serve as a scalable method for converting orange juice processing side streams into fiber products with properties similar to commercial citrus fiber products.