Orange Oil
Orange oil is the essential oil of the peel of Citrus sinensis, the sweet orange, and of Citrus aurantium, the bitter or Seville orange. It is the highest volume essential oil in world commerce, produced as a co product of orange juice manufacture, and it is the base material for most orange flavour and for a large part of the natural terpene chemistry industry.
The oil is almost entirely d limonene, typically 90 to 96 percent in sweet orange oil, with myrcene, alpha pinene, sabinene, linalool and valencene making up the balance. The odour comes from an oxygenated fraction of well under two percent, principally decanal, octanal, citronellal and the sinensals. Functionally it supplies fresh peel character, acts as a natural solvent for other flavour materials, and in cloudy beverages contributes turbidity through its wax residue.
Supply form is a mobile yellow to deep orange liquid, lighter than water, soluble in ethanol at 90 percent and above and in fixed oils, and insoluble in water. Its overwhelmingly hydrocarbon composition makes it unstable to air, heat and light, oxidising to carvone, carveol and hydroperoxides with a turpentine like off note, so it is held refrigerated in full, nitrogen blanketed containers and is normally used within a season.
We source bulk Orange Oil from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Jiangxi. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
or call +86-21-6858 0751
- Function
- Essential oil
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Clear mobile liquid, free from sediment |
| Colour | Yellow to deep orange |
| Odour and flavour | Fresh sweet orange peel, characteristic |
| d Limonene | Not less than 90.0 percent |
| Total aldehydes as decanal | 1.0 to 1.5 percent |
| Myrcene | 1.5 to 3.5 percent |
| Specific gravity at 25 degrees Celsius | 0.842 to 0.850 |
| Refractive index at 20 degrees Celsius | 1.4710 to 1.4750 |
| Optical rotation at 20 degrees Celsius | plus 94 to plus 100 degrees |
| Solubility in 90 percent ethanol | Soluble in 5 volumes |
| Evaporation residue | 1.0 to 5.0 percent |
| Peroxide value | Not more than 10 meq/kg |
| Water content | Not more than 0.3 percent |
| Heavy metals as Pb | Not more than 10 mg/kg |
Common Markets Grades
Cold pressed oil, pressed mechanically from the peel without heat, is the reference grade for flavour work. Distilled or essence oil, recovered from the vapour of juice evaporators, is a lighter and cheaper article with a different profile. Bitter orange oil from Citrus aurantium is traded separately for liqueur and fragrance work.
Folded oils are produced by vacuum stripping part of the limonene, and fivefold and tenfold concentrates are the usual beverage grades because they are stronger, more soluble and slower to oxidise than the single strength oil. Terpeneless orange oil carries the removal to completion. Deterpenated, decolourised and low residue qualities are made for clear beverage systems, and folded oils are further offered with the aldehyde content standardised. Delivery forms include weighted oil in water emulsions for cloudy drinks, propylene glycol and ethanol dilutions, and spray dried encapsulates on modified starch for dry mixes. The limonene removed during folding is itself a traded article sold as a natural solvent.
Applications
- Carbonated orange soft drinks, usually as a weighted emulsion supplying both flavour and cloud
- Still juice drinks, squashes and flavoured waters, dosed as folded oil for solubility
- Confectionery, boiled sweets, gums and jellies with orange profiles
- Bakery fillings, icings, glazes and orange flavoured doughs
- Ice cream, sorbet and dairy dessert flavours
- Chocolate and compound coatings, where the oil disperses readily in the fat phase
- Liqueurs, bitters and gin botanical blends, bitter orange oil in particular
- Savoury glazes, sauces and marinades needing a citrus lift
- Feedstock for the isolation of d limonene, decanal and valencene for onward conversion to nootkatone and carvone
- Household cleaners, degreasers and personal care products, where limonene works as both solvent and fragrance
Brands Using Orange Oil
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Orange Oil on the ingredient label.
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Orange Oil
Top Orange Oil manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States, the generally recognised as safe listing of essential oils, oleoresins and natural extractives in 21 CFR 182.20 covers sweet orange oil and bitter orange oil, and names both. They carry Flavour and Extract Manufacturers Association GRAS status as flavouring substances, and Food Chemicals Codex monographs exist for cold pressed orange oil and for terpeneless orange oil.
In the European Union the oils are natural flavouring preparations obtained from a food source and Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 permits them without individual authorisation, subject to the general safety requirements of that Regulation. Limonene and linalool carried in the oil are declarable fragrance allergens in cosmetic use under the cosmetic products Regulation. ISO monographs cover expressed sweet orange oil and bitter orange oil, and the Joint FAO WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives has evaluated the terpene hydrocarbon and aliphatic aldehyde flavouring groups that make up the oil without raising a safety concern at flavour use levels.
Manufacturing Process
Fruit is washed, graded and fed to extractors that recover juice and peel oil in the same pass. Cutting tubes press the juice from the fruit while rotating rasps abrade the flavedo, and a continuous water spray carries the released oil away as an emulsion. Plants that work on halved fruit take the juice first and then screw press the spent peel with water. All of this is done cold, so no thermal character enters the oil.
The emulsion is finished by screening to remove peel fragments, desludging centrifugation to take out fines and pectin, and high speed polishing to separate the oil from the aqueous phase. The oil is winterised at low temperature until the waxes crystallise and is then filtered cold. Where a folded grade is being produced, the clarified oil is charged to a short path or packed vacuum column and the limonene rich head fraction is stripped off under conditions mild enough to leave the oxygenated heart undamaged. Essence oil, in contrast, is condensed and separated from the vapour leaving the juice concentration evaporators. Finished oils are analysed for aldehyde content and peroxide value and filled under nitrogen for chilled storage.
