Method for obtaining olive oil and at least one extract concentrated in polyphenols and a functional ingredient

A method for obtaining olive oil and at least one polyphenol concentrated extract and a functional ingredient characterised in that it comprises the stages of:

• Separating (2) the stone and skin from the olive pulp, obtaining the whole stone (3) on the one hand and, on the other, an olive paste;
• Electric pulsing (4) of the olive paste with an electric field voltage of 1-3 kV/cm, frequency of 114-255 Hz and 2-10 pulses of 50-90 microseconds;
• Dehydrating (5) the pulsed olive paste up to a humidity of <30% in a continuous vacuum drying machine under the following conditions:
• vacuum (<80 mbar of absolute pressure), temperature (<41° C.) and time (20-100 kg of evaporated water/h) or other conditions that preserve the thermolabile compounds of interest;
• Separating (6) the oil from the olive paste by centrifugation in a decanter with the necessary adjustments to treat de-stoned dehydrated pulp and obtainment of virgin olive oil (7);
• Dehydrating (8) the degreased pulp, after separating the oil, up to a humidity of less than 10% applying vacuum conditions (<200 mbar of absolute pressure), temperature (<60° C.) and time (20-100 kg of evaporated water/h) or other conditions that preserve the thermolabile compounds of interest;
• Applying supercritical fluids (9) (CO2 with or without modifier) to the degreased and dehydrated olive paste, under agitation, pressure (150-250 Bar), temperature (40° C.) and time (60-240 min) conditions;
• and
• Obtaining, on the one hand, a series of extracts (10) (squalene, oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol, verbascoside, tyrosol, tocopherol, oleocanthal and other minority compounds) and, on the other hand, olive flour (11) with a high fibre, protein and polyphenol antioxidant content.