What was the challenge or problem to solve?
At INFINITIA we have undertaken an innovative and multidisciplinary project, working together from the areas of Food Technology and Product Development. This project has consisted in the application of a new technology to improve the extraction of compounds in fruits.
It is a research in which we have explored the potential of this technology in the food industry, proving the possibility of improving the extraction of compounds from fruits and other food matrices. This improvement has made it possible to reduce the time required for these processes with respect to the traditional extraction system.
Finally, we were able to demonstrate an improvement in the extraction of compounds belonging to fruits among other matrices. At the same time, we were able to reduce the time required if this process was carried out in the traditional way. And finally, we successfully met the challenge of integrating the technology into a prototype demonstrator.
We began the study by consulting different databases of scientific journals and articles. This preliminary phase provided us with a theoretical basis on which to act, allowed us to understand the effect that the technology would have and helped us to select the optimal conditions for its application.
Based on this bibliography and with the information from other projects we had previously carried out, a first prototype was designed, with the objective of carrying out the necessary tests with the technology, to check if the application was feasible.
After the prototype was fine-tuned and the relevant tests were carried out, a functional prototype was developed in order to proceed with the elaboration of samples and their subsequent analysis.
The analysis was carried out using different physical-chemical characterization equipment. In addition, a sensory analysis was performed. This phase was fundamental, as it would allow us to check whether the technology had produced any improvement with respect to the untreated products.
Using a statistical analysis program, we studied the results obtained, evaluating trends and correlations between variables. In this way, we were able to obtain statistically substantiated conclusions about the positive results of the project.