Abstract:

This study aimed to examine the effect of supercritical CO2 treatment on some properties of insoluble dietary fiber
from apricot kernel skins. The main parameters including pressure, time and temperature were optimized using response
surface methodology according to a three-variable, three-level Box-Behnken design with the water-holding capacity and
swelling capacity as the responses. The results suggest that under the experimental conditions established in this study, the
water-holding capacity and swelling capacity of insoluble dietary fibers treated with supercritical CO2 were increased by
5.6%-44.13% and 5.3%-38.5%, respectively. On the other hand, observations conducted on the color and morphology with
scanning electron microscope demonstrated that the color became lighter, the particle size decreased, and the microstructure
changed obviously after supercritical CO2 treatment, which contributed to the improvement of water-holding capacity
and swelling capacity. In summary, supercritical CO2 treatment could be used as an efficient technique to improve some
properties of insoluble dietary from apricot kernel skins.

Key words: apricot kernel skin, dietary fiber, supercritical CO2, water-holding capacity, swelling capacity