Evaluation of ozone technology as an alternative for degradation of free gossypol in cottonseed meal: a prospective study

ABSTRACT

Free gossypol is a toxic compound which naturally occurs in cottonseed and its derivates, affecting animal and possibly human health. Consequently, alternatives for gossypol destruction must be evaluated. This work evaluated the emerging technology of ozone processing for free gossypol destruction in cottonseed meal. Ozonation was carried out in the actual cottonseed meal and also a model system, designed to describe the involved mode of action. The model system consisted of glass pearls beads covered with free gossypol. Ozonation was performed in two ways: as a static process, i.e., without homogenising the sample after placing them in the reactor, and also homogenising it. Ozone degraded free gossypol in all the systems, but reaching different levels. Free gossypol reduction was higher in the model system than the cottonseed meal, and higher in the homogenised processing than the static one: cottonseed meal in homogenised (56%) and static (25%); model system homogenised (98%) and static (80%). The obtained differences suggest a problem of gas penetration in the solid particles, the effect of unexposed surfaces due to contact areas, and the reaction with other organic molecules further than the target. Ozonation is a promising technique for gossypol degradation in cottonseed meal, but additional strategies are needed to optimise the ozonation process and evaluate toxicological aspects.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Ozone
• ozonation
• food processing
• degradation

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) for funding the postdoctoral fellowship of A.C. Romero (88887.356778/2019-00), to the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil) for funding the productivity grants of P.E.D. Augusto (306557/2017-7) and A.L. Abdalla (303395/2019-2), and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Brazil) for funding project no 2019/05043-6.

Declaration of Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil) [303395/2019-2, 306557/2017-7]; Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES, Brazil) [88887.356778/2019-00]; São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [2019/05043-6].