Deodorization of sunflower oil by high voltage electric field as a nonthermal method sunflower oil refining by electric field

In this study, the high voltage electric field (HVEF) method was used for deodorization of sunflower oil to omit drawbacks of an established industrial method including long time, high energy, chemicals andwater consumption, loss of bioactive compounds, and formation of some contaminants due to exposure to heat. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to find the optimal values of processing parameters. The effects of voltage (5–15 kV), clay (0–1%), electrolyte concentration (0–50 mM), the number of electrodes (1–5 pairs), and electrodes distance (1–3 cm) on the volatile compounds and tocopherols content were investigated by HS–SPME-GC/MS and HPLC, respectively. The optimal processing conditions were determined to be a voltage of 5 kV, a distance of 1 cm between the electrodes and a number of five pairs of electrodes. The amount of bleaching clay and electrolyte concentrationwere zero under optimal conditions. The refining process by HVEF removed 32.33% of the volatile compounds from crude sunflower oil, while the industrial refining process reduced the volatile compounds by only 17.78%. Results indicated no changewas observed in the tocopherols content of refined sunflower oil byHVEFmethod. Based on PCA results, HVEF-treated sample not only contained the lowest concentration of volatile compounds but also was the most similar to crude sample in terms of volatile compounds composition.