Abstract: The aqueous enzymatic extraction of polysaccharides from rapeseed meal was optimized by response surface methodology. One-factor-at-a-time method was employed to investigate the effects of five operating parameters on polysaccharide yield. The optimum ratio of water to material was 25:1 (mL/g). Further, a quadratic polynomial regression model describing polysaccharide yield as a function of enzyme dosage, pH, temperature and extraction time was developed using the SAS software based on a Box-Behnken experimental design. The results of response surface analysis showed that the optimal extraction conditions were extraction at 62 ℃ and pH 6.7 for 79 min with an enzyme dosage of 256 U/g, resulting in a polysaccharide yield as high as 9.01%.

Key words: response surface analysis, polysaccharides from rapeseed meal, extraction, optimization