Lycopene was extracted from tomato skin following
thirty two selected combinations of solvent/meal ratio,
number of extractions, temperature, particle size and
extraction time. The experimental value of lycopene yield
(response variable) varied from 0.639 to 1.98 mg/100 g.
The second order model developed for lycopene content
exhibited non-significant lack of fit and a high value for
the coefficient of determination (0.99). The surface graphs
indicated that maximum lycopene yield was obtained by
extracting tomato skin with a 30:1 v/w solvent/meal ratio,
four extractions, 50 C temperature, 0.15 mm particle size
and 8 min extraction time.