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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 399 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. T December 16, 1916 



THE PRODUCTION OF SWEET-ORANGE OIL AND A 

 NEW MACHINE FOR PEELING CITRUS FRUITS. 



POSSIBILITY OF THE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF SWEET- 

 ORANGE OIL FROM WASTE ORANGES. 



By S. C. Hood, Scientific Assistant, and G. A. Russell, Expert, of Office Drug-Plant 

 and Poisonous-Plant Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



Importance of the industry 2 



Material available for the production of 



Comparison of the various oils 9 



Commercial possibilities lo 



Cost of production ii 



orange oil 4 Yield of oil 11 



Methods of extraction 5 Summary 12 



Pressed oil 6 



INTRODUCTION. 



The oil extracted from the fresh peel of the sweet orange has long 

 been an important article of commerce in the United States and 

 Europe. It is extensively used in the manufacture of flavoring 

 extracts, perfumes, and soaps, and to a small extent in the drug 

 trade, the oil being official in the ninth decennial revision of the 

 United States Pharmacopoeia. Until recently, this product was 

 secured wholly from Italy, Sicily, and other parts of southern Europe. 

 Since the year 1911, however, a considerable industry has grown up 

 in the West Indies, and a portion of the annual requirement in the 

 United States is now supphed from that region. 



The methods of extracting sweet-orange oil are similar in aU 

 coimtries wherever practiced. The fruit is peeled by hand, either by 

 cutting it in half crosswise and scooping out the pulp or by stripping 

 off the peel in three longitudinal pieces. The peel thus secured is 

 inverted and pressed over a small sponge. By this means the oil 



Note.— This bulletin is of interest to growers of oranges generally. 

 50399°— Bull. 399—16 1 



