Cold Press Essential Oil (CPEO) of Citrus fruits, a co-product of juice-making industry, is investigated herein as a sustainable source of high added value industrial products exploring for first time its potentials for simultaneous carotenoid and fine chemicals isolation. Main obstacle towards this target is the physical and chemical properties differentiation of the main CPEO ingredients. To overcome it three different separation approaches were tested on orange, lemon, and tangerine CPEOs. The results indicated as most potent the novel procedure of negative pressure azeotropic condensation, which achieved yields of carotenoid crude extract consistently above 3% in all CPEOs, (lemon: 3.2%, orange 3.9%, tangerine: 5.2%). In addition, their total carotenoid content was found to excel in recovery rates after the volatiles removal, achieving 68% in tangerine, 85% in orange, and 38% in lemon. Tangerine CPEO was further processed, concluding to the pilot scale isolation of β-cryptoxanthin, which is presented herein for first time. In specific, the application of this process yielded 1.07% of pure all-trans-β-cryptoxanthin and 95.08% D-limonene, proving the feasibility and sustainability of the proposed protocol. This paradigm of circular economy regards the transformation of a low value industrial co-product into two high added value fine chemicals. In specific, the added value of the crude tangerine CPEO, with a commercial price 7 euros per litre, after the separation and recovery of limonene and β-cryptoxanthin is significantly increased as suggested by the cumulative price of 14 270 euros per litre for both isolates (limonene: 270 euros, β-cryptoxanthin:14 000 euros).

柑橘类水果的冷榨精油 (CPEO) 是果汁制造行业的副产品，本文研究为高附加值工业产品的可持续来源，首次探索其同时分离类胡萝卜素和精细化学品的潜力。实现这一目标的主要障碍是主要 CPEO 成分的物理和化学性质差异。为了克服这个问题，我们在橙子、柠檬和橘子 CPEO 上测试了三种不同的分离方法。结果表明，负压共沸冷凝的新工艺最有效，在所有 CPEO 中，类胡萝卜素粗提物的产率始终高于 3%（柠檬：3.2%，橙子 3.9%，橘子：5.2%）。此外，发现它们的总类胡萝卜素含量在去除挥发物后的回收率方面表现出色，橘子达到 68%，橙子达到 85%，柠檬达到 38%。Tangerine CPEO 进一步加工，结论是β-隐黄质的中试规模分离，这是本文首次提出的。具体来说，该工艺的应用产生了 1.07% 的纯全trans-β-隐黄质和 95.08% D-柠檬烯，证明了拟议方案的可行性和可持续性。这种循环经济范式将低价值的工业副产品转化为两种高附加值的精细化学品。具体而言，商业价格为每升 7 欧元的粗橘 CPEO 在分离和回收柠檬烯和β-隐黄质后的附加值显着增加，这两种分离物的累积价格为每升 14 270 欧元。 （柠檬烯：270 欧元，β-隐黄质：14 000 欧元）。