Hydrodynamic, thermo-analytical and molecular structural investigations of enzyme interesterified oil and its thermo-oxidative stability by thermogravimetric analysis

Enzyme-assisted three-phase partitioning: An efficient alternative for oil extraction from Sesame (<em>Sesamum indicum</em> L.)

Three-phase partitioning (TPP) was explored for oil extraction from Sesamum indicum L. seeds. The process parameters, namely the salt concentration, slurry/t-butanol ratio and system pH were standardized. The optimum conditions for maximum oil recovery using TPP were an ammonium sulphate concentration of 40% (w/v), slurry/t-butanol ratio of 1:1 (v/v) and system pH of 5.0. The powdered seeds were subjected to enzyme-assisted three-phase partitioning (EATPP) which was pre-treated with pectinase, protease and a mixture of ɑ-amylase and amylo-glucosidase (1:1 ratio) followed by TPP (as standardized conditions) and its efficacy in recovering oil was compared with TPP and solvent extraction (SE). Out of all the enzymes studied, EATPP with pectinase resulted in the highest oil recovery (86.12%), which was higher than that of TPP (78.24%). The free fatty acids, saponification value and peroxide values were observed to be lower in the case of TPP and EATPP when compared to SE, indicating better oil quality.

Emerging technique for healthier frying for production of reduced-fat beetroot (Beta vulgaris) chips

In the present work, the processing variables were optimized to retain betalain compound and their effect on quality attributes (oil content, breaking force and color) of fried beetroot chips. The beetroot slices were fried in lab scale vacuum fryer. Experimental design with temperature (86-153 °C), absolute pressure (1.3-9.7 kPa) and frying time (2.6-9.4 min) as independent variables which produced 20 different combinations, were studied using response surface methodology to study the effect of these variables on product responses. Multiple regression equations were obtained to describe the effects of each variable on product responses. Results predicted that optimum frying conditions namely temperature ranging from 101 to 110 °C, pressure ranging from 2.9 to 4.4 kPa and time 6.0 min required for preparing beetroot chips with oil content (Y₁) ≤ 15.7, breaking force (Y₂) ≤ 11.53, L* value (Y₃) ≥ 27.94, a* value (Y₄) ≤ 17.87, b* value (Y₅) ≥ 6.46, betalain content (Y₆) ≥ 13.05 (mg/l) and overall acceptability (Y₇) ≥ 7.5. Further results showed that traditionally fried beetroot chips contain 2.6 mg/l betalain, 19.68 N breaking force, 21.1 L*, 15.18 a*, 2.38 b*, overall acceptability 6.0 and 38.41 % oil content.

Synthesis of levulinic acid-based polyol ester and its influence on tribological behavior as a potential lubricant

Levulinic acid (LA) was used to prepare lubricant base stocks by esterification with three different polyols including neopentyl glycol (NPG), trimethylolpropane (TMP), and pentaerythritol (PE) in the presence of sulfuric acid.