International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01

Coconut Milks Fat Breaking by Means of Ultrasound

Siti J. Iswarin and Beni Permadi

AbstractThe effects of ultrasound on coconut milk homogenization were studied. An ultrasonic generator was used to homogenize 100 mL of coconut juice with certain energy levels and exposure times. All samples were analyzed under microscope at 1000 magnification to determine the diameters of fat globules. It was found that ultrasonic treatment with high power level has an important effect on coconut milk homogenization and is an effective technique for the reduction of the fat globule size. Effect of reduction represents the symptom of cavitations phenomenon. Index TermsCoconut milk, fat globules, homogenization, ultrasound.

with cows milk, coconut milk is economically feasible to replace cows milk in countries like Indonesia where it is rare [7,10]. In this paper we report our study on the homogenization processes of coconut milk using ultrasound. II. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND A. Oils and Fats Oils and fats are important to our body and are used to supply energy. Edible fats are originated from plants (also known as vegetable oils) and animals. The difference between animal and vegetable fats is that animal fats contain cholesterols while vegetable oils contain phytosterols. Another difference is the lower unsaturated fatty acids content in animal fats than those in vegetable oils. Based on their sources, oils and fats can be classified as [1]: 1. Plant sources: a) seeds: corn oils, soy oils, peanut oils, sesame seed oils, etc. b) annual fruit meat and skin: olive oils and palm oils. c) annual plant seeds: coconut oils, cocoa butter, cohune, etc. 2. Animal sources: a) milk: milk fats. b) meat: lards, cows fats and their derivatives, oleo oil from oleo stock, swine tallow, and mutton tallow. c) fish: sardine oils, cod oils, whale blubber, etc. Chemically, oils and fats are composed of fatty acids and glycerol called triglycerides. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature. The word fats is usually used to refer to fats that are solids at normal room temperature, while oils refers to fats that are liquids at normal room temperature. B. Physicochemical Properties of Oils and Fats Physical Characteristics There are 13 physical characteristics that can be used to classify oils and fats. They are: color, odor, flavor, solubility, melting point and polymorism, boiling point, softening point, slipping point, short melting point, density, refractive index, fire point, and turbidity point. The most important characteristics are the melting point, density, and the refractive index. Chemical Characteristics The important reactions of oils and fats are hydrolyses, IJENS

I. INTRODUCTION ATS is source of energy in food. A human may need 3,300 calories each day to have activities, which one-third of it is originated from fat. Edible fats can be found in animals and plants, such as cows milk, meat, coconut milk and seeds [1]. Unprocessed fats will easily deteriorate. Cows milk and coconut milk at ambient room temperature of 25oC and atmospheric pressure of 1 atm will coagulate and be broken within 6 hours into cream, skim, and water components. In this process the phospholipids, proteins, and fat will separate. And homogenization is used to retard this process [2]. Homogenization of cows milk and coconut milk will rearrange the density of milk constituents. Homogenization reduces the diameter of fat droplets to relatively uniform size. In addition, homogenization will increase the surface tension of the fat membrane [3]. Food industries use ultrasound for homogenization process [4-6]. An experiment by Januri [7] showed fat break down by mean of a 40 kHz ultrasound. Ultrasound makes the solid part of the milk to dissolve uniformly to form emulsion suspension [8]. Researches on animal milk have long been conducted. Those on coconut milk are yet to start. Ertugay et al. [9] used a 450-watt ultrasound generator to produce smaller fat droplets compared to a high pressure (200 bars) conventional method. Since coconut milk has comparable characteristics as food
Manuscript received December 12, 2011. This work was based on BPs undergraduate thesis. S.J. Iswarin is with the Dept. of Physics, Brawijaya University, Malang 65145, Indonesia (phone: +62-341-575833; fax: +62-341-575834; e-mail: iswarin@ub.ac.id). B. Permadi was an unduergraduate student of the Dept. of Physics, Brawijaya University, Malang 65145, Indonesia.

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01 oxidation, and hydrogenation. In hydrolyses, fats will transform to free fatty acids and glycerol with water as by product. The presence of water may cause changes in odor and flavor. However, hydrolyses process is intentionally made in industry for specific purposes. The oxidation process will take place when fats are exposed to oxygen. This process will also change the odor and flavor. The hydrogenation of fat in industry is generally aimed to saturate the double bonds of the carbon chain in the fats. The hydrogenation allows hydrogen molecules (H2) to react with the compounds of fats. For edible oils, the oils must be free from free fatty acids and low phosphate (H3PO4) contents before the reactions take place [1]. C. Fats as Food The food value of fats is determined by three factors: nutritional value, non-fat contents, and the effects of non-fat content to body. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are among those soluble materials in fat [2]. Nutritional Value Fats are food constituent that play an important role to human as a source of energy. The recommended daily intake of an adult ranges between 1,600 to 2,400 calories for women and between 2,000 to 3,000 calories for men depending on age and physical activity level; and one-third of it originates from fats. The intake and absorption of fats by human body are determined by their melting temperature and unsaturated fatty acid content. The lower the melting point the easier the body absorbs them; and the unsaturated fatty acids are easier to absorb than the saturated fatty acids. In general, plant oils contain oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids which are unsaturated fats and 94% absorbable by human body. Fats with melting temperatures of 36-38oC has a high absorbance value [1]. Non-Fat Content Non-fat fractions that determined the value of the fats are th free fatty acids, nickel, preservatives (e.g. salts, anti oxidants, benzoate compounds). They may occur naturally in the fats as well as by introduction. D. Coconut Oil Coconut fruits comprise of meat, juice, and husk. Coconut oil can be produced from the dry or wet meat. It is the primary source of fat in the diets of many people in tropical countries. Coconut oil contains a large portion of lauric acid, a saturated fat that elevates blood cholesterol levels by increasing the amount of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol that is also found in significant amounts in breast milk as well as cows milk [11]. Nutritional comparison between coconut oil and cows milk is presented in Table I. The coconut milk is juice made by pressing grated coconut meat. The quantity of milk produced depends of the maturity and freshness of the fruits. The color and taste of the milk are attributed to the oil content of the milk. The distinctive rich taste of coconut is irreplaceable by any other substances of the

kind that makes the consumption of coconut milk steadily high. Production of coconut oil has topped 6.22 million metric tons in 2010-2011 and is predicted to reach 6.24 million metric tons in 2011-2012, which is 2.5% of world vegetable oil production with India being the largest market.
TABLE I Nutritional contents of coconut oil and cows milk [1]. Contents Water Solids Fats Carbohydrate Egg white Minerals Coconut Milk (%) 86 14 5 5 4 1 Cows Milk (%) 88 12 4 5 5 3

Fatty acids composition in coconut oil is presented in Table II. It can be seen that the saturated fatty acids make up 90% of the fatty acid. Coconut oil is composed of 84% triglycerides with three saturated fatty acids, 12% with two saturated fatty acids, and 4% with one saturated fatty acid.
TABLE II Some fatty acid found in coconut oil [1]. Fatty Acids Saturated: Caproic Caprilic Capric Lauric Myristic Palmitic Stearic Arachidic Unsaturated: Palmitoleic Oleic Linoleic Chemical Structure Portion (%)

C5H11COOH C7H17COOH C9H19COOH C11H23COOH C13H27COOH C15H31COOH C17H35COOH C19H39COOH C15H29COOH C17H33COOH C17H31COOH

0,0 - 0,8 5,5 - 9,5 4,5 -9,5 44,0 - 52,0 13,0 - 19,0 7,5 - 10,5 1,0 - 3,0 0,0 - 0,4

0,0 - 1,3 5,0 - 8,0 1,5 - 2,5

Homogenization Homogenization is a technique used to stabilize fat emulsion in coconut milk (the milk is the medium) by restricting the coagulation and keeping suspended materials uniformly distributed. Homogenization is also employed to equalize the component structures, to recombine and adjust the density of the components in the milk. It also will increase the milk viscosity [2]. Homogenization technique utilizes ultrasound of 20-30 kHz frequency. The application of ultrasonic waves will break the fat globules into smaller sizes with diameter ranges from 0.5 2.0 m [12]. Uniform size and distribution increase milk stability that in turn stopping emulsion to transform into cream [3]. There are two types of emulsion known in food industry: oil in water (O/W) and water in oil (W/O). Coconut milk is an example of O/W emulsion and margarine is of W/O emulsion

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01 [10]. Coconut milk emulsion is stabilized by protiens that is absorbed in the oil-water layers. The water acts as the dispersant, the oil is in dispersed phase, and the protein is the natural emulsfier [13]. Proteins in fats form lipoprotein compounds that act as the envelope of the globules. The presence of the envelopes will stabilize the droplets from coalescence (e.g. droplets to clump together). Fat Breaking Fat is a reactive constituent in milk. It will react easily with proteins and phosphor. Fresh milk contains fats that are wrapped by proteins and phosphors (see Figure 1).

added into the grated meat with a ratio of 1:2. The mixture was squeezed to extract the milk. 2,600 mL of coconut milk was required for the experiments. B. Apparatuses In the experiment we used an experiment type homogenizer Samro SRH6-100 (Shanghai Samro Homogenizer Co. Ltd.) that is capable of pumping a maximum pressure of 100 MPa and delivering power up to 750 watts [14]. C. Ultrasonic Exposures The coconut milk was divided into six groups, one group of 100 mL volume and five groups with 500 mL volume each. One group of 100 mL was used as a control group. The other groups were equally divided into volumes of 100mL each and labeled as samples I.1, I.2, , II.1, II.2, , V.4, and V.5. Each sample went through different treatments that varied the ultrasound power and exposure times. The power used were 2.5 W, 3.5 W, 4.5 W, 5.5 W, and 7.0 W; and the durations of exposure were 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 25 minutes. Therefore sample number I received 2.5 watts of ultrasound power for a period of 5 minutes (sample I.1), 10 minutes (I.2), 15 minutes (I.3), 20 minutes (I.4), and 25 minutes (I.5). Similar treatments went to samples number II, III, IV, and V. After the treatments, the samples were brought under a microscope to measure the droplets diameter. Later, the samples were again divided into smaller volumes and were put into five 20 mL-vials each. Further labeling was given to the vials to be I.1.1, I.1.2, I.1.3, and so on to get 125 vials of treated samples and five vials of the control sample. All samples were then left in the room at a room temperature of 24.2oC 0.6 oC to observe the coagulation process. Time to reach the coagulation was recorded. IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The observed droplet diameters after treatment were presented in Table III. Table IV shows the coagulation time.
TABLE III Diameter of droplets (in m) after treatments. The diameter of the control group was 5.44 0.15 m.
Exposure Time (mins) 5 10 15 20 25 Power (watts) 2.5 5.44 0.05 5.14 0.09 4.88 0.08 4.77 0.08 4.72 0.07 3.5 5.04 0.09 4.90 0.07 4.80 0.10 4.74 0.11 4.58 0.08 4.5 5.00 0.10 4.64 0.05 4.52 0.05 4.30 0.07 4.14 0.04 5.5 4.48 0.05 4.46 0.09 4.22 0.08 4.04 0.05 3.90 0.07 7.0 4.56 0.05 4.12 0.08 3.88 0.08 3.76 0.11 3.64 0.15

Other materials

Lemak

Phosphor

Proteins

Fig. 1 The structure of fat in fresh milk. The fat is wrapped by proteins and phosphors (adopted from Ketaren, 1986 [1]).

To add other ingredients, such as vitamins, to the milk, the globules must be broken to allow the fat to bind the introduced ingredients. The breaking process usually is carried out in a high pressure machinary. Prior to the process the water content of the milk is reduced to upto 60%. Membrane Recombination Recombined membrane sstructures are different from the orignal ones. Recombination process involves homogenization that reduces the droplets diameter. Such could increase the membrane surface tension upto 15 mN/M. E. Ultrasonic Waves Sound is a mechanical wave resulted from an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of a spectrum of frequencies. The portion of the spectrum that can stimulate human organs of hearing is called the audible sound that ranges from 20 Hz 20 kHz. Sound with frequencies below 20 Hz is infrasound, whereas sound with frequencies above the upper human hearing threshold is categorized as the ultrasound. Ultrasonic waves are generated by means of piezoelectric materials that convert electrical signals into mechanical vibrations. The generated frequency depends on the frequency of the supplied signals. III. METHODS A. Sample Preparation The coconut milk used in the experiments was extracted from matured coconut fruits. The coconut meats were first removed from the endocarp upon the opening of the fruit to obtain fresh meats. The meats were then grated and water was

Table III shows a range of droplets diameter yielded after the treatments. The largest diameter was 5.44 0.05 m from the treatment of 2.5 watts and 5 minutes. This figure was just similar to the initial droplets diameter of 5.44 0.15 m due to the high binding energy of the droplets. The ultrasound power was insufficient to break down the droplets. Subsequent treatments gave an average of 10% decrease in diameter. The smallest diameter obtained was 3.64 0.15 m. The numbers are plotted in Figure 2.

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01

5.5 5.3 5.1

were consistent with results reported by Gordon and Pilosof [5].

Droplet Diameter (m)

4.9 4.7 4.5 4.3 4.1 3.9 3.7 3.5 0 2 4 6 8 5 mins 10 mins 15 mins 20 mins 25 mins

Ultrasound Power (watts)

Fig. 2 Relation of droplet diameter to the ultrasound power exposed to the droplets. The curve colour indicates the ultrasonic exposure time. The graphs reveal the expected decrease in the diameter upon the increase of the ultrasonic power level.

Fig. 4 Wave propagation in the medum. The continuous disturbance will cause turbulence flow in the medium that prevents coagulation.

Figure 3 depicts the curves of the droplets diameter as a function of exposure time. The slopes of the curve are less steep (correction factor of 0.1) compared to those in Figure 2. This indicates that the power level is more dominant in breaking up the droplets than the duration of the exposure.
5.5 5.3 5.1

Ultrasonic transmitter

Droplet Diameter (m)

4.9 4.7 4.5 4.3 4.1 3.9 3.7 3.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 2.5 W 3.5 W 4.5 W 5.5 W 7W

Fig. 5 An illustration on how the turbulence flow in the medium will allow the milk droplet to collide each other and hit the wall.

Another breaking mechanism is due to the high frequency disturbance to the droplets. The disturbance will induce the droplets to shake in similar frequency of the ultrasounic wave, which in turn break the droplets into smaller size. V. CONCLUSION We found that ultrasonic wave can be used to prevent coconut milk coagulation and to reduce the droplet diameter. The Ultrasonic wave is also capable of homogenizing the resulted droplet diameter size. The droplets diameter is determined by the exposure time as well as the power of the wave. The future works would deal with the use of the ultrasound in milk components separation processes. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank Dr. Johan Noor for his assistance in developing this manuscript. REFERENCES
[1] [2] [3] [4] Ketaren, S., 1986, Minyak dan Lemak Pangan, Cetakan Pertama, UIPress, Jakarta (in Bahasa Indonesia). Bernion, M., 1981, The Science of Food, John Wiley and Sons, Singapore. Charley, H., 1982, Food Science, 2nd edition, Macmillan, USA. Ashokkumar, M., Bhaskaracharya, R., Kentish, S., Lee, J., Palmer, M., and Zisu, B., 2010, The ultrasonic processing of dairy products An

Exposure Time (mins)

Fig. 3 Relation of droplet diameter to the ultrasound exposure time. The curve colour indicates the ultrasonic power. The graphs reveal the expected decrease in the diameter as a function of the exposure time.

From Figures 2 and 3 one could extract the information that the power increment will reduce the diameter of the droplets down to 4.48 m in 5 minutes and down to 3.64 m in 25 minutes. It is shown that the droplet diameter was reduced by 18%. The mechanical process of the droplet breakage is by continuous disturbance to the coconut milk that allows turbulence flow (see Figure 4). The turbulence flow will inhibit the coagulation of the milk. The milk droplets flow following the turbulence and are forced to collide each other and to hit the container wall (see Figure 5). This process will in turn break down the droplets to smaller size. Our results

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01

overview, Dairy Sci. Technol., 90(2-3): 147-168, DOI: 10.1051/dst/2009044. Gordon L. and Pilosof, A.M.R., 2010, Application of High-Intensity Ultrasounds to Control the Size of Whey Proteins Particles, Food Biophysics, 5(3): 203-210, DOI: 10.1007/s11483-010-9161-4. Chemat, F., e-Huma, Z., Khan, M.K., 2011, Applications of ultrasound in food technology: Processing, preservation and extraction, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 18(4): 813835. Januri, A., 2005, Analisis Serapan Susu Sapi terhadap Gelombang Ultrasonik, Sarjana Thesis, Dept. of Physics, Brawijaya University, Malang (in Bahasa Indonesia). Winarno, F.G., 1992, Kimia Pangan dan Gizi, PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, Jakarta (in Bahasa Indonesia). Ertugay, M.F., Sengul, M. and Sengul M, 2004, Treatment on Milk Homogenization and Particle Size Distribution on Fat, Turk. J. Vet. Anim. Sci., 28: 303-308. Ranken and Kill, 1993, Food Industrys Manual, Scabo Pub, US. Hegde, B.M., 2006, Coconut Oil Ideal Fat next only to Mothers Milk (Scanning Coconuts Horoscope), JIACM, 7(1): 16-19. Fellows, PJ, 1990, Food Processing Technology Principles and Practice, Ellis Horworth, West Sussex, England. Cancel, L.E., 1970, Coconut Food Products and Based, pp: 162-179. In J.G. Woodroof: Production, Processing, Product, 2nd ed, AVI Publishing Co. Inc., Wetsport Connecticut, USA. China-Samro, High Pressure Homogenizer Operating Instructions, SHR6-100, Shanghai Samro Homogenizer Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China.

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