On-site Planning
Installation & Commissioning
Automated & Energy Efficient
Client Name: C***R
Country: Kingdom of Spain
Region: Valencian Community – Europe's Citrus Capital, core producing area for oranges, lemons, and citrus, accounting for 60% of Spain's citrus exports
Core Products: Oranges, lemons, citrus, limes, grapefruits, sour oranges
Equipment Configuration: Hadof custom flexible brush + high?pressure spray + wax coating integrated citrus washing line (compatible with hot water treatment and drying/polishing system)
Commissioning Date: Q2 2024
Spain's Valencian Community is known as the "Citrus Capital of Europe." Its oranges are vibrant in color and lemons intensely aromatic, selling well throughout Europe. C***R Group is one of the region's oldest citrus exporters, supplying markets in Germany, France, the UK, and North America. However, with the EU's increasingly strict pesticide residue standards for imported agricultural products and consumers' demanding expectations for fruit surface cleanliness, traditional washing methods faced severe challenges:
Risk of pesticide penetration into the peel: Citrus peels are rich in oils; traditional washing removes only surface residues, leaving pesticides that have penetrated the waxy layer. EU tests repeatedly approached the limit.
Uneven wax coating: To extend shelf life, citrus exports require wax coating. Traditional spray equipment results in uneven thickness – too thick makes the fruit look white, too thin reduces preservation effectiveness.
Difficulty removing lemon spots: Lemons are prone to brown spots and mildew, which traditional washing cannot fully remove, requiring manual sorting at low efficiency.
Delicate limes easily damaged: Lime skins are extremely thin; traditional brush washing easily scratches them, causing oxidation and blackening, leading to high return rates.
The client's needs were clear: thoroughly remove pesticide residues that have penetrated the peel, apply wax uniformly like a mirror, and adapt to the varied peel characteristics of oranges, lemons, limes, and more.
After comparing Italian and French washing equipment, the client ultimately chose our company. Our advantage lay in deep process adaptation to the common and unique characteristics of citrus fruits, rather than a generic machine.
Solution: Four Custom Designs Adapted to Mediterranean Citrus
1. Hot Water Soaking + Ultrasonic Cavitation – 99.2% Pesticide Removal
To address pesticide penetration, a 45°C hot water soaking section was added at the front of the washing line, combined with 40kHz ultrasonic cavitation. This opens the micropores of the waxy layer, "shaking out" and dissolving penetrated pesticides. SGS tests showed removal rates of 99.2% for EU?monitored pesticides such as thiabendazole and imazalil, far exceeding EU standards.
2. Dual?Layer Flexible Brushes + Variable Frequency Speed – Zero Damage to Limes
An upper and lower double?brush structure was used: the upper brush is soft horsehair, the lower is nylon. Speed automatically adjusts based on fruit hardness. For oranges and lemons, medium speed; for limes, speed automatically drops to 30rpm, complemented by sponge rollers, reducing the lime damage rate from 5% to 0.3%, leaving the skin bright and new.
3. High?Pressure Fan Spray + Spot Removal – 95% Spot Removal for Lemons
12 sets of high?pressure fan nozzles (pressure adjustable to 10kg/cm2) provide 360° full?coverage rinsing of lemon surfaces, removing 95% of brown spots and mildew. For stubborn spots, an optional laser spot removal module (accuracy 0.5mm) vaporizes the spot instantly without damaging the peel.
4. Electrostatic Spray + Infrared Drying – Mirror?Like Even Wax Coating
Electrostatic spray technology gives wax particles a negative charge, causing them to uniformly adhere to the citrus surface with coating thickness tolerance of ±0.01mm. After spraying, the fruit enters an infrared drying tunnel, curing in 60 seconds, leaving a mirror?like surface and extending shelf life by 20 days, meeting the appearance requirements of high?end European and American supermarkets.
5. Near?Infrared Detection + AI Grading – Export Quality Guaranteed with One Click
A near?infrared spectrometer at the end of the line measures each fruit's sugar content, acidity, and internal defects in real time. The AI algorithm automatically grades fruit into A/B/C categories, directly feeding the packaging line. Export?grade A fruit has sugar content deviation <0.5°Bx, completely replacing the old method of "guessing quality by appearance."
One year after commissioning, C***R Group has been transformed.
Capacity & Market Breakthrough
Daily throughput: Increased from 80 tons/day on the manual line to 200 tons/day continuous operation on the automated line, with peak season full capacity. On?time delivery jumped from 75% to 99%.
Channel upgrade: Oranges and lemons, with their "mirror?like shine," entered premium supermarkets such as Edeka in Germany, Tesco in the UK, and Carrefour in France, selling at 30% higher prices than ordinary products. Exports to Germany grew 120% in 2024, regaining lost market share.
Significant Economic Benefits
Return on Investment: The group's production director calculated: "We used to need 100 workers for sorting and washing; now the entire line needs just 8. We save over �1.5 million annually in labor costs. With zero pesticide residue risk, we recouped the investment in under 20 months."
Loss Reduction: Lime damage rate dropped from 5% to 0.3%, saving over �600,000 annually; spotted lemons upgraded after cleaning, adding over �400,000 in revenue.
Technological Leadership
Industry Benchmark: This line became Spain's first citrus washing line certified by the EU for "zero pesticide residue concerns," earning the Valencia Chamber of Commerce "Export Innovation Award" and driving a technology upgrade across the region.
"Hadof's equipment makes our Valencian oranges shine – not just a figure of speech, they literally shine like mirrors. German clients say these are the cleanest citrus they have ever seen, good enough to slice directly into water. That's the pride of Spanish citrus."
—— C***R, Group Export Director
