Experimental Design for Enhancement of Betanin in Beet Juice Using Pulsed Electric Field

Abstract

The influence of strength and pulses number of Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) treatment on juice extraction and betanin concentration has been investigated in our studies. Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment is an innovative and promising method for the non-thermal processing of foodstuff. It is a good alternative to conventional cell membrane permeabilization methods such as thermal treatments and the addition of chemicals as well as enzymes. The principal effect resulting from pulsed electric field (PEF) interaction with the biological cell is the phenomenon of electroporation which is the creation of pores on membrane cells in order to increase the permeability. The influence of strength and pulses number of pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment for enhancing betanin extraction from beet food has been investigated in this work. This paper is aimed to analyze the effectiveness of the PEF pretreatment of the beet juice extraction process based on Response Surface Modeling (RSM) for identifying the set point of the betanin extraction process using pulsed electric field pre-treatment. The experiments were carried out on a laboratory experimental bench. Obtained results pointed out that investigated parameters of PEF treatment have a significant effect not only in juice yield but also for enhancement of the betanin concentration of the final product.