Application of ultrasonic wave celerity measurement for evaluation of physicochemical properties of olive oil at high pressure and various temperatures

High-pressure processing is a powerful technology for food preservation. The knowledge of foods properties in the high-pressure range is important to develop and optimize such processes by means of mathematical modeling and simulation. Ultrasonic methods are rapid, non-invasive and can be used to characterize foods like edible oils (e.g., composition, purity, and quality assessment). In this paper, they were applied for the investigation of physicochemical properties of olive oil at high pressure at different temperatures. The sound wave velocity was measured by the pulse-transmission method and the corresponding oil density was additionally determined from the monitoring of sample volume change. Measurements were conducted in the pressure range up to 600 MPa, for temperatures from 20 to 50 °C. Intermolecular free length, isothermal and adiabatic compressibility versus pressure were calculated using measured sound speed and density isotherms. Discontinuities in the measured isotherms of sound speed and density versus pressure indicate the presence of liquid-to-solid phase transitions. The kinetics of the liquid-to-solid phase transition was also investigated. The transformation times of olive oil augment with increasing temperature. This study can be broadened to other liquid foodstuffs to investigate the influence of temperature on their physicochemical properties at high pressure.