Effects of Pulsed Electric Field Treatment on Compression Properties and Solutes Diffusion Behaviors of Jerusalem artichoke.

Jerusalem artichoke is widely used as raw material for industrial production of inulin. Pressing (compression) and diffusion are two effective technologies for bio-compounds' recovery from plants. In this work, pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment at 400, 600, and 800 V/cm during 100 ms was applied to facilitate juice and solutes recovery from Jerusalem artichoke. The application of PEF led to electroporation of cell membranes and enhanced the tissue compression/juice expression and solutes diffusion. The consolidation coefficient (calculated by application of semi-empirical model) of PEF treated sample at 800 V/cm was 6.50 × 10-7 m²/s, which is significantly higher than that of untreated sample (5.02 × 10-9 m²/s) and close to that of freeze-thawed sample. Diffusion experiments with PEF treated samples were carried out at 25, 50, and 75 °C. A PEF treatment of Jerusalem artichoke at 800 V/cm led to a similar diffusion behavior at 25 °C, compared to diffusion behavior obtained from untreated sample at 75 °C.

Seed oil extraction from red prickly pear using hexane and supercritical CO2 : assessment of phenolic compound composition, antioxidant and antibacterial activities.

BACKGROUND: Investigating Opuntia species for their seed oil content is of much importance owing to their potential use for food and in cosmetic applications. These oils have an important content in unsaturated fatty acids as well as antioxidant compounds (e.g. polyphenols, vitamin E), which have been associated with the prevention of some chronic diseases. Moreover, Opuntia stricta oils possess important antimicrobial activities. For instance, the main focus of this study was to compare the effectiveness of conventional (hexane extraction) and novel (supercritical (SC)-CO2 ) extraction methods for the recovery of oil and phenolic compounds from O. stricta seeds. The oil yield of both extracts was then compared and the polyphenol content and composition of both extracts were determined by liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. Additionally, antioxidant (DPPH assay) and antimicrobial activities (disc diffusion method) of O. stricta seed oils were determined. RESULTS: The oil yield (based on Soxhlet's method) of O. stricta seeds was determined using SC-CO2 (49.9 ± 2.2%), and hexane (49.0 ± 1.5%). Although obtaining similar oil extraction yields using the two methods, the extracted oil using SC-CO2 was more enriched in polyphenols (172.2 ± 11.9 µg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) g-1 oil) than that extracted using hexane (76.0 ± 6.9 µg GAE g-1 of oil). Polyphenol profiles showed that the SC-CO2 process led to the yield of more compounds (45) than that using hexane extraction (11). Moreover, the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of SC-CO2 extract showed a high percentage of inhibition. CONCLUSION: SC-CO2 extraction of O. stricta seed oil led to extraction of oil with a similar yield to that with hexane extraction, but with higher polyphenol content. The extract containing polyphenols exhibited high antioxidant and antibacterial properties, demonstrating their great potential as feedstock for high-oil quality. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

ß-Cyclodextrin-assisted extraction of polyphenols from vine shoot cultivars.

This work optimized the ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD)-assisted extraction process of polyphenols from vine shoots. The efficiency of ß-CD was compared to that of ethanol in terms of the quantity and antioxidant capacity (AC) of the extracted polyphenols. Response surface methodology permitted the optimization of the ß-CD concentration, time, and temperature. The optimal polyphenol content (PC) [5.8 mg of gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g of dry matter (DM)] and AC [3146 micromolar trolox equivalent per milliliter (µMTE)] were initially obtained with Syrah cultivar after an extraction of 48 h at 66.6 °C with a 37.7 mg/mL aqueous ß-CD solvent. The same PC (5.8 mg of GAE/g of DM) was reached with 50% ethanol/water solvent after 1.65 h. However, a lower AC was found with ethanol (2000 µMTE) compared to ß-CD. A comparison of the PC and AC of four different vine shoot cultivars was realized. Our results clearly show the capacity of ß-CD to amplify polyphenol extraction from vine shoots.

Seed oil polyphenols: rapid and sensitive extraction method and high resolution-mass spectrometry identification.

Phenolic content is a primary parameter for vegetables oil quality evaluation, and directly involved in the prevention of oxidation and oil preservation. Several methods have been reported in the literature for polyphenols extraction from seed oil but the approaches commonly used remain manually handled. In this work, we propose a rapid and sensitive method for seed oil polyphenols extraction and identification. For this purpose, polyphenols were extracted from Opuntia stricta Haw seed oil, using high frequency agitation, separated, and then identified using a liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry method. Our results showed good sensitivity and reproducibility of the developed methods.

S. cerevisiae fermentation activity after moderate pulsed electric field pre-treatments.

The batch fermentation process, inoculated by Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) treated wine yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae Actiflore F33), was studied. PEF treatment was applied to the aqueous yeast suspensions ([Y] = 0.012 g/L) at the electric field strengths of E = 100 and 6000 V/cm using the same treatment protocol (number of pulses n = 1000, pulse duration ti = 100 µs, and pulse repetition time Δt = 100 ms). Electrical conductivity was increasing during and after the PEF treatment, which reflected cell electroporation. Then, fermentation was run for 150 h in an incubator (30 °C) with synchronic agitation. Electro-stimulation was revealing itself by the improvement of fermentation characteristics, and thus increased yeast metabolism. At the end of the lag phase (t = 40 h), fructose consumption in samples with electrically activated inoculum exceeded that of the control samples by ≈ 2.33 times for E = 100 V/cm and by ≈ 3.98 for E = 6000 V/cm. At the end of the log phase (120 h of fermentation), ≈ 30% mass reduction was reached in samples with PEF-treated inocula (E = 6000 V/cm), whereas the same mass reduction of the control sample required approximately 20 extra hours of fermentation.

Effect of the drying process on the intensification of phenolic compounds recovery from grape pomace using accelerated solvent extraction.

In light of their environmental and economic interests, food byproducts have been increasingly exploited and valorized for their richness in dietary fibers and antioxidants. Phenolic compounds are antioxidant bioactive molecules highly present in grape byproducts. Herein, the accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) of phenolic compounds from wet and dried grape pomace, at 45 °C, was conducted and the highest phenolic compounds yield (PCY) for wet (16.2 g GAE/100 g DM) and dry (7.28 g GAE/100 g DM) grape pomace extracts were obtained with 70% ethanol/water solvent at 140 °C. The PCY obtained from wet pomace was up to two times better compared to the dry byproduct and up to 15 times better compared to the same food matrices treated with conventional methods. With regard to Resveratrol, the corresponding dry pomace extract had a better free radical scavenging activity (49.12%) than the wet extract (39.8%). The drying pretreatment process seems to ameliorate the antiradical activity, especially when the extraction by ASE is performed at temperatures above 100 °C. HPLC-DAD analysis showed that the diversity of the flavonoid and the non-flavonoid compounds found in the extracts was seriously affected by the extraction temperature and the pretreatment of the raw material. This diversity seems to play a key role in the scavenging activity demonstrated by the extracts. Our results emphasize on ASE usage as a promising method for the preparation of highly concentrated and bioactive phenolic extracts that could be used in several industrial applications.

Dual-porosity model of solute diffusion in biological tissue modified by electroporation.

In many electroporation applications mass transport in biological tissue is of primary concern. This paper presents a theoretical advancement in the field and gives some examples of model use in electroporation applications. The study focuses on post-treatment solute diffusion. We use a dual-porosity approach to describe solute diffusion in electroporated biological tissue. The cellular membrane presents a hindrance to solute transport into the extracellular space and is modeled as electroporation-dependent porosity, assigned to the intracellular space (the finite rate of mass transfer within an individual cell is not accounted for, for reasons that we elaborate on). The second porosity is that of the extracellular space, through which solute vacates a block of tissue. The model can be used to study extraction out of or introduction of solutes into tissue, and we give three examples of application, a full account of model construction, validation with experiments, and a parametrical analysis. To facilitate easy implementation and experimentation by the reader, the complete derivation of the analytical solution for a simplified example is presented. Validation is done by comparing model results to experimentally-obtained data; we modeled kinetics of sucrose extraction by diffusion from sugar beet tissue in laboratory-scale experiments. The parametrical analysis demonstrates the importance of selected physicochemical and geometrical properties of the system, illustrating possible outcomes of applying the model to different electroporation applications. The proposed model is a new platform that supports rapid extension by state-of-the-art models of electroporation phenomena, developed as latest achievements in the field of electroporation.

Comparative study of ultrasound-assisted and conventional stirred dead-end microfiltration of grape pomace extracts.

Ultrasound (US) was used to facilitate dead-end microfiltration (MF) of grape pomace (GP) extracts. The effects of ultrasonic power, sonication cycle time and ultrasonic probe height on filtration behaviour were investigated. Ultrasonic irradiation had a strong impact on the MF processes, especially with high output power and continuous mode. A comparative study of US-assisted and stirred MF was performed. The energy consumption and liquid flux enhancement of the two filtration systems were compared. Under the same dissipation power, the flux enhancement is much higher for the US-assisted MF. A correlation equation for predicting permeate flux was derived from resistance-in-series model. The flux predictions were confirmed with the experimental results. Finally, the characteristics of permeate after US-assisted and stirred filtration were evaluated.