Optimization of Ethanol-Ultrasound-Assisted Destabilization of a Cream Recovered from Enzymatic Extraction of Soybean Oil

A novel method using ethanol and ultrasound to extract oil from cream obtained from enzyme-assisted aqueous extraction of soybean oil was developed. To evaluate the relationships between operating variables and free oil yield and to maximize the free oil yield, response surface methodology was introduced in this work. The developed regression model was fitted with R ² = 0.9591. Optimized variables were: ethanol concentration of 73 %, ethanol addition volume of 0.55 L/kg, ultrasound power of 427 W, ultrasound time of 47 s, and ultrasound temperature of 53 °C. The free oil yield from the cream under the above conditions was 92.6 ± 3.4 %. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate the effect of ultrasonic treatment on ethanol-treated cream, and the SEM images clearly showed that the ultrasound treatment affected dispersing and fracturing of the microstructure of ethanol-treated cream.