Ozone in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degradation

Abstract Among energy sources from food, corn is a cereal with significant nutritional characteristics. However, during preprocessing, corn is subject to contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are considered carcinogenic, and gas ozone can be used as an alternative for decontamination. This study aims to evaluate the effect of ozonation on the quality of corn grains at different exposure times. Evaluations were performed to assess moisture content, electrical conductivity, germination, germination speed index, colour (brightness parameter, direction red to green, direction yellow to blue, hue angle indicates the colour tone and chroma), and chemical composition, and chromatographic analysis was performed to quantify the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The ozonation times influence on the quality of the maize grains was lipids, ash and germination percentage and did not promote the degradation of all the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons detected in the product.