Depigmentation of olive oil by Ultrafiltration

The objectives of this study are the total or partial removal of green pigments from olive oil, mainly chlorophyll and carotenoids, using a physical technique called ultrafiltration (UF) equipped with a mineral ceramic membrane. Three factors were chosen for the study, namely alcohol volume, alumina quantity and temperature inside the UF unit, and these were optimized. Using the experimental design as a statistical tool to build an adequate mathematical model explaining the experimental phenomenon, the results show that chlorophyll is reduced by 66% with an alcohol volume of 125ml and an alumina mass of 85gr. Carotenoid removal reached 70% under the extreme conditions of alcohol and alumina.