Abstract
After some hesitations, the scientific community is jointly converging on the benefits due to the ultrasound treatment by means of mechanical effects generated by acoustic cavitation phenomena occurring into the olive oil paste proposed initially by Amirante and Clodoveo. In recent works, many authors have now confirmed that this promising emerging technology produces relevant beneficial effects if applied to the extraction process under well-controlled conditions. In the last years, the industrial applications of ultrasound (US) in the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) extraction process are changing the paradigm of the knowledge in this field of interest due to a great effort of the research activity. In the present work, the design of the device by means a Three-Dimensional (3D) Multiphase Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analysis was performed, which describes the ultrasound effects in the olive paste, necessary to control the US waves propagation. Thus, fluid dynamic analysis allowed to predict the flow path in the ultrasound devices, to evaluate the flow parameters of the olive paste inside the SHE and the cavitation phenomenon, with the aim to find an optimal design, capable to ensure the best ultrasounds and mixing effects. Moreover, experimental results demonstrated that the machine can guarantee an actual simultaneous improvement of the olive oil extraction yield, as well as of the product quality. Finally, the results from sensory evaluations are summarized confirming the goodness of EVOO obtained by means of US.
Highlights
Ultrasound (US) is a promising emerging technology that has already found application in the food industry [1,2,3] due to its significant effects on the processes, such as higher product yields, shorter processing times, reduced operating and maintenance costs, improved taste, texture, flavour and colour [4]
The industrial applications of ultrasound (US) in the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) extraction process are changing the paradigm of the knowledge in this field of interest due to a great effort of the research activity
The full scale application of ultrasounds in the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) extraction process is more recent but it appears very promising due to the interesting industrial scale application proposed by Amirante and Clodoveo in the last years [10], summarized in a recent paper by Clodoveo [11], such as by the same Bejaoui, Jimenez, Beltran, Patist, et al [4,7,12,13]
Summary
Ultrasound (US) is a promising emerging technology that has already found application in the food industry [1,2,3] due to its significant effects on the processes, such as higher product yields, shorter processing times, reduced operating and maintenance costs, improved taste, texture, flavour and colour [4]. The full scale application of ultrasounds in the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) extraction process is more recent but it appears very promising due to the interesting industrial scale application proposed by Amirante and Clodoveo in the last years [10], summarized in a recent paper by Clodoveo [11], such as by the same Bejaoui, Jimenez, Beltran, Patist, et al [4,7,12,13] This new technology exploits the simultaneous effects of the ultrasounds and heat exchange (the so called Sono-Heat-Exchanger, SHE) and it is relevant for the enhancements in the extraction yields [14], and from an economical point of view for the skill to improve phenols contents [15] to guarantee the possibility of using health claims [16,17]. The effect of acoustic cavitation promotes the breaking of tissue structures, including membranes of elaioplasts freeing the trapped oily phase [18,19] These phenomena make that the application of ultrasound to the extraction process of EVOO enhances the release of oil and minor compounds [20]. Another property of low frequencies ultrasounds (
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