Optimisation of tomato seed protein extraction using response surface methodology

The conditions for tomato seed protein extraction were optimised to prepare protein concentrate. A central composite design including temperature, NaOH conc., time and solvent/meal ratio were used to develop second order model to predict protein content (PC) and protein yield (PY) under experimental conditions. The PC and PY ranged between 65.07 and 79.06 and 36.44 and 46.38%, respectively. Maximum protein extraction was obtained with solvent/meal ratio 70 v/w, NaOH conc. 1.2%, mixing time 5 min and temperature 60degreesC. The regression models predicted the optimal combination of independent variables for the highest PC and PY.