Efficient and safe detoxification of aflatoxin B1 in peanut oil by synergistic modification of montmorillonite with histidine and acid

Abstract

The safety problems associated with the occurrence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in edible oils pose a serious threat to human health. In this research, the adsorbents of montmorillonite (MMT) modified with histidine under acidic conditions were prepared for AFB1 detoxification from peanut oil. To this goal, the characteristic of montmorillonite (MMT) modified with histidine at pH 4 (HMMT-4), 2 (HMMT-2), and 1 (HMMT-1) were analyzed by SEM, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, XRD, FT-IR, and TGA. Meanwhile, the adsorption kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamics of HMMTs for AFB1 in peanut oil were investigated. The results showed that HMMT-1 was an excellent adsorbent for AFB1 detoxification from peanut oil due to the graft of histidine into the interlayer of MMT under acidic conditions, which increased the surface area and changed the appearance of MMT. The adsorption process of AFB1 by HMMTs was mainly chemical adsorption, which belonged to endothermic reaction. Notably, the adsorbent of HMMT-1 not only effectively removed AFB1 and pigment from peanut oil but also had no significant effect on the nutrients content in peanut oil. Therefore, HMMT-1 has the characteristics of safety, high efficiency, economy, and practicality and could be used as a novel promising adsorbent for AFB1 detoxification from vegetable oil.