Vol. 11, Special Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
Ishita Auddy, Abdul Rehman, Manoj D and Dr. S Shanmugasundaram

Abstract:
Virgin coconut oil (VCO) being one of the costly oils is prone to be adulterated with cheaper oils viz., coconut oil (CO). Attempt were made to develop a new innovative way to detect the adulteration in VCO using Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) system. Optimization of certain process parameters is an prioritize criteria for detection by LSPR system for further development of the calibration curve. The traditional method for optimization involved the study of one variable at a time, which in turn required a large number of experimental runs. The Design of experiments (D.O.E) by Taguchi design employed here for optimization of LSPR system to achieve maximum reliability with a minimum experimental run. The process parameters viz., flowrate, surfactant and pH were selected for the optimization of the LSPR system to detect the VCO adulteration with CO in PBS buffer. For obtaining a maximum response a large signal to noise ratio was applied. An optimal condition for LSPR system was obtained at a Flowrate (200µl/min), pH (7.0) and surfactant (Tween 20) with a significant difference (p<0.05). A linear regression model with high significancy was developed and the model was validated. The results suggested that the Taguchi method can be used as an effective optimization method for LSPR system for VCO adulteration detection by further development of the calibration curves.