Industrial Ultrasound Applications in the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Extraction Process: History, Approaches, and Key Questions

Abstract

Taking an idea from a basic concept to a commercially available product is highly rewarding, but it can be a very long, complex, and difficult journey. Recognizing and understanding the stages of the process and using the right support to help you navigate through it can mean all the difference between success and failure. The road from concept to market is marred with obstacles, and many businesses fail to pass beyond the development stage. A better understanding of the innovation process is essential from the outset if the pioneers of innovation are to overcome the dangers that they are likely to face along the way and maximize their opportunities for success. In the olive oil sector, the most recent radical innovation is the introduction of ultrasound into the industrial extraction process. Many efforts have been made in order to overcome the Valley of Death. The strategy of designing, implementing, and testing an innovative system that combines the mechanical energy of ultrasound with the possibility of modulating the thermal exchange of olive paste (heating or cooling) has enabled the following: (1) Eliminating malaxation by realizing a real continuous process; (2) raising extraction yields by recovering a further quota of extra-virgin olive oil that is usually lost in the pomace; (3) improving the content of antioxidant molecules simultaneously with yields; and (4) offering a sustainable plant solution that can guarantee the right income for producers.

A Social Analysis of the Olive Oil Sector: The Role of Family Business

“…In this work, the term consumer includes the three typologies of subjects cited above, in accordance with the existing literature [18,58,59]. In our study, we build upon a questionnaire-based research methodology to understand the extent to which the consumers' insights could provide information on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the sector investigated [60,61].…”

A review of sustainable and intensified techniques for extraction of food and natural products

“…185 One of the applications that have been most studied in recent years is that related to the intensification of eco-sustainable processes for the industrial production of olive oil. 186 The release of oil from vacuoles can be amplified with the MW thermal effect, limiting at the same time the amount of produced waste water thanks to the reduction in water usage. 187 The improvement of the olive oil extraction under highpower US on olive paste before malaxation has been reported by Bejaoui et al 188 The quick heating of the olive paste from 20 to 28°C increases the industrial virgin oil yield by 1% and the oil extractability by 5.74% without modifying the quality of the obtained product in control parameters such as fatty acid composition and volatile aromatic compounds, rather than increasing the tocopherol, chlorophyll, and carotenoid content.…”

Fluid dynamic-based Engineering design of a Full-Scale Device for the improvement of Extra Virgin Olive Oil Yield and Quality by means of Combined Acoustic Cavitation and Thermal Conditioning

“…The full scale application of ultrasounds in the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) extraction process is more recent but it appears very promising due to the interesting industrial scale application proposed by Amirante and Clodoveo in the last years [10], summarized in a recent paper by Clodoveo [11], such as by the same Bejaoui, Jimenez, Beltran, Patist, et al [4,7,12,13]. This new technology exploits the simultaneous effects of the ultrasounds and heat exchange (the so called Sono-Heat-Exchanger, SHE) and it is not only relevant for the enhancements in the extraction yields [14], but also from an economical point of view for the skill to improve phenols contents [15] to guarantee the possibility of using health claims [16,17].…”