Industrial production of a balanced virgin olive oil

The aim of this work is to obtain a balanced commercial virgin olive oil (VOO) using response surface methodology at an industrial level under continuous working conditions. Thus, a factorial design was developed with three factors: sieve size of the hammer mill, temperature, and malaxing time. Forty different responses were modulated, including extraction efficiency, but with special attention to phenolic and volatile compounds because they are responsible for the taste and aroma of VOO. The conditions for malaxing were 22 and 32 degrees C for 60 and 120 min using 5 and 6 mm sieve sizes. After modeling the responses, the highest extraction efficiency was obtained at 32 degrees C and 120 min; similar conditions were necessary to obtain the maximum contents of chlorophyll, carotenoid, and phenolic compounds, but the maximum content of volatile compounds was obtained at 22 degrees C. Therefore, it has also realized a combined optimization of total phenolics and total volatiles.