One way to do so is to extract functional food ingredients from side streams in fruit and vegetable processing.
One functional food ingredient that can be extracted from these side streams is pectin. Pectin serves as a thickening agent and stabilizer in food.
Ideally, the pectin extraction has a high yield and the extraction time is short. One promising technique is ultrasound-assisted extraction.
To explore the possibilities of ultrasound-assisted extraction and to identify the optimal settings for the extraction in an efficient way, Elien De Laet, Tom Bernaerts, Kim De Cock en Ann M. Van Loey, Peter Goos (all KU Leuven) and Jose Núñez Ares(Effex) performed a designed experiment.
A designed experiment is nothing but a smart, systematic data collection method, which provides a maximum of information concerning the relation between the settings of the extraction process and its yield. Designed experiments are also known as DoEs, which is short for design of experiments.
The DoE approach eventually led to a pectin yield of 57.2%, while the conventional extraction only resulted in a pectin yield of 37.4%. The DOE approach indicated that, with the ultrasound-assisted extraction, it is also possible to obtain yields similar to those of the conventional extraction in much shorter extraction times.
The experimental plan actually used for the study was a mixed-level OMARS experimental design to study the impact of six different extraction parameters on the pectin yield. The study showed that pH had the most pronounced effect on the pectin yield. However, also the solvent used, as well as the ultrasound intensity (time and temperature) impacted the yield substantially.
OMARS experimental designs are available in the Effex software
