Mechanisms of oleuropein degradation assisted by ultrasound in model system for table olives production

• Grant number: 25/01485-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2025
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Tiago Carregari Polachini
• Grantee: José Aloísio Colombo Neto
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 24/03269-5 - PROValue: developing non-conventional processes for cascade valorization of fruits and their byproducts, AP.JP

Abstract

As a consequence of the growing production of olives in Brazil and São Paulo state, new processing technologies are required to differentiate and to boost their commercialization. The production of green table olives, specifically, presents some challenging aspects regarding the high usage of NaOH and long treatment time. The conventional process (Spanish-style) consist of debittering raw olives in lye solution in order to simultaneous extract and hydrolyze some phenolic compounds, as oleuropein, responsible for the natural bitter taste. Emerging technologies, such as ultrasound (US), have demonstrated potential application for enhancing different mass transfer unit operations and for accelerating chemical reactions. However, this evaluation was not proposed yet for this product. Thus, model food systems will be firstly employed to analyze separately the phenomena of extraction from the actual hydrolysis of the oleuropein. It will be evaluated by modeling the degradation kinetics of phenolic compounds and NaOH penetration, similarly as for the further debittering of the green olives. Fundamental aspects of the proposal will thus be described, with focus on the proposed mechanisms. The results from this proposal will provide important data for concretizing an enhanced production of Brazilian table olives with lower environmental impact and processing time.