Tomato juice extraction methods are mostly used in industrial food processing. However, adapting such machines for small-scale processors presents significant challenges due to high costs, energy requirements, and design limitations. In tomato processing, the development of a pulper-juice extractor tailored to smaller operations is therefore critical. This study focuses on the design, fabrication, and evaluation of equipment specifically designed to handle tomato fruits that are often underutilized or lost due to postharvest wastage. The aim is to process surplus and downgraded tomatoes that do not meet fresh-market standards but are still suitable for juice and pulp extraction. The performance of the developed tomato pulper-juice extractor was assessed in terms of extraction rate, meal recovery, juice recovery, and extraction efficiency. The machine comprises a feeding hopper, a cutting blade, a screw press, a perforated cone, a detachable stainless-steel screen, and a 2-hp motor-driven system. Performance tests using Cherry, Jewel, and scarlet tomato varieties yielded extraction efficiencies of 82.13%, 73.31%, and 83.46%, with juice recoveries of 72.38%, 66.19%, and 76.19%, respectively. These results confirm the machine’s effectiveness in efficiently extracting tomato pulp juice, demonstrating its feasibility for small- to medium-scale processors. The findings highlight practical implications and emphasize the potential for further refinement to support sustainable agricultural practices
Ogdamin et al. (Sat,) studied this question.