Enhancement of lycopene extraction from tomatoes using pulsed electric field

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment for enhancing lycopene extraction. Tomato pulp was obtained by blending fresh tomato fruit. Approximately 5 g of the pulp was subjected to PEF. The parameters of the treatments were: electric field 4, 8, 16, 20 and 24 kV/cm, capacity of discharge capacitor 0.02, 0.06, 1, 2 and 3 μF and number of pulses 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50. Lycopene content was determined using spectrophotometric method at the wavelength of 503 nm after low volume hexane extraction. PEF treatment increased lycopene extraction from fresh tomato fruit generally. A maximum of 68.8% was obtained using 16 kV/cm, 2 μF, and 50 pulses compared to untreated samples, however 20 kV/cm, 0.06μF, 50 pulses was shown to be more energy efficient.