Application of Response Surface Methodology to Optimise the Antioxidant Activity of a Saithe (Pollachius virens) Hydrolysate

The objective of this study was to produce, by an enzymatic hydrolysis process at a pilot scale, a saithe (Pollachius virens) hydrolysate with a high antioxidant activity. Design of experiment methodology, based on laboratory-scale experiments, was used to obtain a behavioral reduced model that allows one to determine the optimal operating conditions maximizing the antioxidant activity. Two specifications were studied: the degree of hydrolysis and the antioxidant activity. The effects of the following hydrolysis parameters (temperature, pH, enzyme concentration, and operating time) were studied and presented as response surfaces. From these results, a multifactorial optimization was performed and the Pareto optimal set of efficient solutions was evaluated. The optimal conditions were tested at laboratory scale and then validated by comparison with tests carried out on a pilot plant.