Fully automatic beverage production line

The fully automatic beverage production line is a complete food processing system with PLC centralized control and continuous automated operation. It covers the entire process from water source/fresh fruit raw materials to palletizing and finished product storage. The entire process is designed with stainless steel hygiene and equipped with CIP/SIP cleaning and sterilization. It is divided into seven modules: water treatment section, raw material pretreatment section, blending homogenization and degassing section, sterilization section, filling host section, post packaging section, and common auxiliary system. Below is a complete breakdown of the process, individual machine functions, process differences, and production capacity specifications.

1、 Overall classification of production lines
1. Bottled water/mineral water line (excluding gas and low viscosity): purified water, natural mineral water
2. Fruit and vegetable beverage line (the pomegranate juice you are interested in belongs to this category): freshly squeezed NFC juice, blended juice, fruit pulp beverage
3. Carbonated carbonated beverage line: Soda, sparkling water, with added carbonated mixing system and isobaric filling
4. Tea beverage, plant protein, and dairy beverage lines: extraction, high-pressure homogenization, and anti layering process
5. Aseptic bags (Tetra Pak/Camry bags), cans, 5-gallon large bucket water dedicated production line

Automation level
Semi automatic: Single machine independent operation, manual transfer of tanks (capacity ≤ 1000 bottles/hour)
Fully automatic whole line: closed pipeline transportation, automatic bottle blowing, three in one filling, automatic packaging and palletizing (2000-24000 bottles/hour)
Aseptic ultra clean production line: Aseptic cold filling, 100 level clean space throughout the process, no preservatives, long shelf life

2、 Complete seven process sections (taking the fully automated juice beverage production line as an example)
Section 1: Water Treatment System (Essential for All Beverages)
Production water must meet the beverage grade pure water standard
1. Raw water tank → quartz sand filter → activated carbon filter → precision security filter
2. RO reverse osmosis host/ultrafiltration system
3. Aseptic water tank+ozone/ultraviolet sterilization
>Produce process pure water for ingredient preparation, bottle cleaning, and equipment CIP cleaning


Section 2: Raw material pretreatment section (unique to fresh fruit juice, core section for pomegranate)
Fresh fruit route: lifting feeding → spraying brush cleaning → fruit picking table → pomegranate husk seed separator → seed cleaning floating washing tank → spiral/airbag press → coarse filter vibrating screen → clarification filtration (diatomaceous earth/membrane filtration) → original juice storage tank
Single machine list:
1. Elevator, bubble cleaning machine, selection of conveyor belt
2. Pomegranate Peel Seed Separation and Shell Removal Machine (Flexible Shell Breaking, Automatic Peel Separation and Discharge)
3. Floating washing purification tank (removes white pulp and broken skin, reduces bitterness and tannins in fruit juice)
4. Squeezing machine (airbag pressing is suitable for juice flavor protection; spiral pressing has a larger output)
5. Coarse filter, plate and frame filter, centrifugal clarifier
>If concentrated fruit juice is used for blending: directly configure a sugar dissolving tank and a concentrated juice thawing and dilution tank, eliminating the need for a complete set of equipment for crushing and pressing fresh fruits


Section 3: Mixing, Homogenization, and Degassing Section (Standardization of Ingredients)
1. Automatic batching tank (with weighing/flowmeter and PLC automatic feeding): juice, sugar, citric acid, stabilizer and essence are mixed in precise proportion according to the formula
2. Colloidal mill (for refining large particles of fruit pulp beverages)
3. High pressure homogenizer: pressure 20-60MPa, crushing small fruit pulp fibers to prevent beverage layering and sedimentation, resulting in a delicate and smooth taste
4. Vacuum Degassing Machine: Negative pressure extracts oxygen from the inside of the juice to avoid oxidation, browning, flavor deterioration, and reduce foaming during filling
5. Intermediate buffer storage tank (304/316L stainless steel, insulated and temperature controlled)

Section 4: Sterilization system (determining shelf life and filling process)
1) UHT ultra-high temperature instantaneous sterilization (mainstream room temperature fruit juice)
135-140 ℃, keep warm for 3-6 seconds, quickly cool down, minimal flavor loss, shelf life at room temperature 6-12 months; Divided into tubular UHT and plate UHT
2) Hot filling sterilization process
Heating the liquid to 85-92 ℃, directly filling at high temperature, sealing and pouring the bottle, using waste heat to sterilize the bottle mouth and cap, and then cooling the tunnel to reduce temperature, the cost is lower than sterile cold filling
3) Pasteurization (cold chain fresh fruit juice)
Keep at 80-90 ℃ for 15-30 seconds to preserve the fresh fruit flavor, and refrigerate the finished product for sale throughout the entire process
4) Aseptic cold filling with SIP steam sterilization
The entire pipeline and filling machine chamber are pre sterilized at high temperature, and the material liquid is UHT sterilized and cooled to room temperature before being filled in a sterile environment. High end NFC juice is preferred




Section 5: Core section of filling host (the most expensive core equipment in the entire production line)
Mainstream all-in-one machine: flushing filling capping three in one/four in one filling machine
Difference between three filling modes
1. Atmospheric pressure gravity filling (hot filling of juice and tea beverages): relying on gravity self flowing feeding, suitable for non carbonated beverages, with moderate cost
2. isobaric filling (for carbonated soda): Fill the bottle with back pressure gas first, balance the pressure before feeding, and prevent carbon dioxide from overflowing and foaming
3. Aseptic cold filling valve group: independent sterile chamber, hydrogen peroxide sterilizes the inner wall of the bottle, and the entire process is in a sterile environment




Supporting front-end empty bottle equipment
-Plan A: Outsourced empty bottles → Empty bottle air washing/water washing machine
-Option B: Online fully automatic bottle blowing machine, PET preform heating blow molding, direct online filling (standard for high-speed large factories)




After filling, it is equipped with a single machine
1. Liding machine, fully automatic capping machine (torque automatic control, no leakage or slipping of teeth)
2. Bottle filling sterilization machine (special for hot filling lines)
3. Spray cooling tunnel (segmented cooling to prevent bottle deformation)




Section 6: Fully automatic packaging assembly line in the later stage (finished product automation)
1. Blow dryer (blow dry water droplets on the surface of the bottle)
2. Laser coding machine (printing production date and batch number)
3. Lamp inspection machine (visual automatic detection of shortage, leakage, impurities, and automatic removal of defective products)
4. Labeling machine/self-adhesive labeling machine
5. Heat shrink furnace (label shrink fixing)
6. Film packaging machine (multi bottle combination plastic film packaging)
7. Fully automatic packing machine, sealing machine, coding and boxing machine
8. Robot palletizer, automatic conveying and storage of the entire stack, with almost no manual operation throughout the process

Section 7: Public auxiliary system (ensuring hygiene and continuous production)
1. CIP in-situ cleaning system: automatic circulation cleaning of all tanks, pipelines, and filling machines with acid, alkali, and hot water, without the need for disassembly and cleaning
2. SIP steam sterilization system (dedicated for sterile lines)
3. Refrigeration chiller unit (UHT cooling, carbonation cooling)
4. Air compressor, steam boiler, refrigeration system
5. Central electrical PLC control cabinet, human-machine touch screen, one click formula calling, production data recording and storage


3、 Capacity specification reference (500ml PET bottle standard)
1. Small scale experiment/small factory line: 1000-2000 bottles/hour (suitable for new product trial production and small juice factories)
2. Standard medium-sized fully automatic line: 3000-6000 bottles/hour (commonly used specifications in juice beverage factories)
3. High speed industrialization line: 8000-12000-24000 bottles/hour (large deep processing enterprises)


4、 Comparison of two mainstream juice processing schemes
|Project | Hot Filling Production Line | Aseptic Cold Filling Production Line|
| ---- | ---- | ---- |
|Filling temperature | 85~92 ℃ High temperature filling | UHT sterilization cooling to room temperature filling|
|Packaging bottle | heat-resistant PET bottle | ordinary PET bottle, lower packaging cost|
|Taste and flavor | Medium | Fresh fruit flavor is better, with high vitamin retention (pomegranate NFC preferred)|
|Investment cost | High cost-effectiveness | Higher equipment cost, strict requirements for clean workshops|
|Shelf life | 9-12 months at room temperature | 12 months at room temperature, no preservatives added|


5、 Complete production line delivery mode
1. Turnkey project: The manufacturer is responsible for process design, equipment manufacturing, installation and commissioning, personnel training, and SC food production compliance guidance
2. Segmented procurement: Purchase pomegranate pre-treatment equipment separately and coordinate with customers to renovate their existing filling production lines