Sea Buckthorn Juice Freeze-Drying Application Case

A biotechnology company in Inner Mongolia specializes in the development of sea buckthorn series products. To expand its product line, it plans to launch high-value-added freeze-dried sea buckthorn juice products. Sea buckthorn juice is rich in nutrients such as vitamin C, organic acids, and flavonoids, but due to its strong acidity and high heat sensitivity, it is extremely prone to problems such as nutrient degradation, flavor change, and poor rehydration after freeze-drying during the freeze-drying process. To achieve high-quality freeze-dried sea buckthorn juice production, Mengguo Biotechnology Co., Ltd. collaborated with INNOTECH Food Machinery Co., Ltd. in Zhucheng City, Shandong Province, leveraging professional vacuum freeze-drying equipment to solve production challenges.

Challenges in Freeze-Drying Process

The composition of sea buckthorn juice is complex. On the one hand, high temperatures easily lead to significant loss of heat-sensitive nutrients such as vitamin C, and the acidic environment accelerates component oxidation and degradation; on the other hand, if the freeze-dried sea buckthorn juice cannot maintain a good loose and porous structure, it will seriously affect the rehydration speed and effect. In addition, the enterprise plans to achieve large-scale production, imposing strict requirements on the temperature control accuracy, vacuum stability, batch processing capacity, and energy consumption management of the freeze-drying equipment.

INNOTECH Vacuum Freeze-Drying Equipment Solution

Equipment Selection
The company selected INNOTECH's IN-100 vacuum freeze-drying equipment, which has undergone comprehensive technical upgrades for the characteristics of sea buckthorn juice:

· Ultra-Low Temperature Rapid Pre-Freezing System: Equipped with an efficient refrigeration unit and a specially designed cold trap, it can reduce the temperature of sea buckthorn juice from room temperature to -50°C within 1.5 hours, rapidly forming uniform and fine ice crystals to reduce the extrusion damage of ice crystals to nutrients in the juice and retain its original components to the greatest extent.
· Dynamic Vacuum Adjustment System: Adopting an intelligent vacuum control algorithm, it can adjust the vacuum degree in real time according to the freeze-drying process. During the sublimation drying stage, the vacuum degree is stably maintained at 8Pa to accelerate ice crystal sublimation; during the analytical drying stage, precise vacuum control ensures thorough removal of residual moisture while avoiding oxidation of sea buckthorn juice components.
· Gradient Temperature Control Heating Plate: The equipment's heating plate has a high-precision gradient temperature control function, which can accurately control the temperature in stages and regions according to a preset program during the freeze-drying process. The sublimation stage uses gentle heat to promote ice crystal sublimation, while the analytical stage slowly raises the temperature to completely dry the material and prevent damage to heat-sensitive components in sea buckthorn juice.
· Large-Volume Continuous Feeding Design: The drying chamber has a volume of 100 cubic meters and supports continuous feeding, enabling one-time processing of a large amount of sea buckthorn juice. It is also equipped with an automated material conveying system to improve production efficiency and meet the enterprise's large-scale production needs.

Freeze-Drying Process

· Raw Material Pretreatment: Select mature and high-quality sea buckthorn fruits, clean, juice, and filter them to obtain pure sea buckthorn juice. After sterilization, the sea buckthorn juice is uniformly filled into special freeze-drying trays.
· Pre-Freezing Link: Place the trays containing sea buckthorn juice into the drying chamber of the IN-100 vacuum freeze-drying equipment. The equipment starts the ultra-low temperature rapid pre-freezing system, reducing the chamber temperature to -50°C within 1.5 hours and maintaining it for 2 hours to completely freeze the sea buckthorn juice into a solid state.
· Sublimation Drying Stage: After pre-freezing, the vacuum system rapidly reduces the vacuum degree in the drying chamber to 8Pa, and the gradient temperature control heating plate begins to work, using gentle and stable heat to promote the direct sublimation of ice crystals in the sea buckthorn juice into water vapor. This process lasts about 15 hours, removing most of the water.
· Analytical Drying Stage: After sublimation drying, the equipment slowly raises the temperature of the heating plate to 25°C while further fine-tuning the vacuum degree. Under these conditions, drying continues for 6 hours to thoroughly remove residual bound water in the sea buckthorn juice, making the final product moisture content less than 2%.
· Post-Processing: After freeze-drying, the freeze-dried sea buckthorn juice is crushed into a fine powder in a sterile environment, then packaged in a nitrogen-filled and sealed manner to effectively prevent product moisture absorption and oxidation.

Application Effects

· Outstanding Nutrition and Quality: Detected by professional institutions, the freeze-dried sea buckthorn juice produced by the IN-100 vacuum freeze-drying equipment has a vitamin C retention rate of up to 95%, and the retention rates of other nutrients such as flavonoids are all above 90%. The product rehydrates rapidly, and the taste after rehydration is highly similar to fresh sea buckthorn juice, with bright color and rich flavor.
· Significant Increase in Production Capacity: The large volume and continuous feeding design of the IN-100 equipment have increased the enterprise's daily output of freeze-dried sea buckthorn juice from the original 300 kg to 1,000 kg, greatly meeting the growing demand for market orders and helping the enterprise quickly seize market share.
· Effective Cost Control: The equipment reduces unit product energy consumption by optimizing the refrigeration, vacuum, and heating systems. Compared with traditional freeze-drying equipment, energy consumption is reduced by about 30%. Meanwhile, the efficient production process reduces labor and raw material losses, with comprehensive production costs reduced by 22%, expanding the enterprise's profit margin.
· Stable and Reliable Operation: The equipment has a high degree of intelligence and a low failure rate during operation. In long-term continuous production, it always maintains stable process parameters and product quality, effectively ensuring the smooth implementation of the enterprise's production plan.

Customer Review

"Cooperating with INNOTECH Food Machinery Co., Ltd. has been a very successful attempt! The IN-100 vacuum freeze-drying equipment perfectly solves the technical problems we encountered in the freeze-drying process of sea buckthorn juice, not only retaining the high nutritional value of sea buckthorn juice but also significantly improving production efficiency and product quality. Its professional technical team and complete after-sales service have also made us worry-free during production. We look forward to continuing to work together in the future to develop more high-quality freeze-dried products!"
— Technical Director of a Biotechnology Company in Inner Mongolia

With advanced technology and excellent performance, the IN-100 vacuum freeze-drying equipment of INNOTECH Food Machinery Co., Ltd. has successfully helped enterprises achieve high-quality and large-scale production of freeze-dried sea buckthorn juice, fully demonstrating its strong strength and application value in the field of liquid material freeze-drying.