Abstract
Worldwide, there is a current need for new sources of vegetable oils. The natural content of total carotenoids in Acrocomia aculeata palm oil (up to 378 µg.g-1) surpasses that of many other tropical fruits, making it one of its main compositional characteristics. As far as can be verified, there is no available information on the degradation kinetics of carotenoids for A. aculeata oil, which is required to describe reaction rates and to predict changes that can occur during food processing. The present study considered prediction abilities that have emerged with the use of specific kinetic data and procedures to understand thermal processing better, as an essential unity operation. Two kinetic mechanisms were proposed to describe the overall thermal degradation of carotenoids in the oil; the first one consists of three reaction steps while the other presents only one-step reaction. Mass balance equations were numerically solved by a Backward Differentiation Formula technique. The kinetic parameters from both models were estimated through a hybrid optimisation method using the Particle Swarm Optimization and the Gauss-Newton method, followed by statistical analyses. The model with more than one reaction was shown to be overparameterized and was discarded. The model with a single reaction was highly suited to handle the experimental data available, and the dependency of its rate constant on temperature was expressed according to Arrhenius law. As far we know, this is the first time the kinetics of carotenoids thermal degradation in A. aculeata oil is investigated through modelling simulation.
Highlights
From the perspective of extractive practices concerning oil crops, Acrocomia aculeata, known as macauba, is a palm tree widely dispersed in Brazil
As far as we have knowledge there is no available information about thermal degradation kinetic modelling of neither β-carotene nor any other carotenoids from macauba oil (Achir, Penicaud, Avallone & Bohuon, 2011; Ahmed, Shivhare & Sandhu, 2002; Knockaert et al, 2012; Penicaud, Achir, Dhuique-Mayer, Dornier & Bohuon, 2011)
Based on what was said, the model derived from Mechanism I can be unconsidered as a candidate model to represent the experimental data available of thermal degradation of macauba oil
Summary
From the perspective of extractive practices concerning oil crops, Acrocomia aculeata, known as macauba, is a palm tree widely dispersed in Brazil. The carotenoids are essential pigments in fruits, these tetraterpenes (C40) synthesised by plants are secondary metabolites, necessary for photosynthesis and to prevent photo-oxidation induced by light intensities. These functions are a consequence of the light-absorbing properties of their polyene chromophore (Oloo, Shitandi, Mahungu, Malinga & Ogata, 2014; Rodriguez-Amaya, Rodriguez & Amaya-Farfan, 2006; Schieber & Carle, 2005). As far as we have knowledge there is no available information about thermal degradation kinetic modelling of neither β-carotene nor any other carotenoids from macauba oil (Achir, Penicaud, Avallone & Bohuon, 2011; Ahmed, Shivhare & Sandhu, 2002; Knockaert et al, 2012; Penicaud, Achir, Dhuique-Mayer, Dornier & Bohuon, 2011). The objective of the present study was to predict the thermal degradation of all-trans-β-carotene in Acrocomia aculeata oil through mathemat-
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