Assessment of the enzymatic interesterification of the binary and ternary blends of milkfat with canola oil and Brazil nut oil on the properties of the products obtained

Author(s)

Gisele Fátima Morais Nunes

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Lorena.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL/ASDI)
• Defense date: 2011-10-07

Examining board members

Júlio César dos Santos; Telma Teixeira Franco; Ismael Maciel de Mancilha; Pedro Carlos de Oliveira; Victor Haber Perez

• Advisor: Júlio César dos Santos
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering

Abstract

The objective of this work was to assess the effect of the enzymatic interesterification of milkfat with canola oil and Brazil nut oil on the properties of the resulting food product, using Rhizopus oryzae lipase immobilized on silica-polyvinyl alcohol (SiO2-PVA) as catalyst. The work was carried out considering as desirable to obtain a more spreadable product under domestic refrigerated conditions as well as enriched with unsaturated and essential fatty acids. Firstly, the properties of the raw materials were determined by applying official analysis techniques and results indicated that all raw materials were in agreement with the Brazilian legislation to food products. Then, two methodologies (physical adsorption and covalent binding) were tested for immobilizing the selected lipase on SiO2-PVA and physical adsorption was found to be the most suitable procedure. The optimized conditions to perform the enzymatic interesterification reactions of binary blends (milkfat and canola oil and milkfat and Brazil nut oil) were determined by central composite design (CCD), leading to a set of 11 runs. The influence of the variables, temperature (45-65°C) and the content of milk fat in the reaction medium (50-80%), was assessed simultaneously, taking the interesterification degree (ID) and consistency (10°C) as response variables. Empiric models were composed and confirmed for each case to establish conditions at which products with satisfactory spreadability (consistency in the range from 200 and 800 gf/cm²) can be obtained. For the milkfat and canola oil blend, the established conditions corresponded to a medium containing 65% of milk fat and 35% of oil, and lipase incubated at 45°C for 12 h. In these conditions, products with consistency of 700 gf/cm² were obtained. In the case of milkfat and Brazil nut oil blend, interesterified products with desirable parameter (200 and 800 gf/cm²) were obtained from reactions carried out with medium containing 50% of milk fat and 50% of oil, and lipase incubated at 45°C for 24 h. Interesterification reactions of ternary blends of milkfat, canola oil and Brazil nut oil were also carried out according to a mixture design with 17 runs to assess the influence of the mass proportion of each compound in the blend on the consistency of the interesterified products. In the range studied, the use of blends with 56% of milkfat, 22% of canola oil and 22% of Brazil nut oil and incubation at 45°C for 3 h resulted in products with satisfactory consistency and plasticity (634 gf/cm²). The performance of enzymatic reactions carried out under conventional and non-conventional (microwave irradiation) heating was also assessed for binary blends under the conditions predicted by the central composite design, and no interference of the microwave in the enzyme action was observed, resulting in interesterified products with similar values of consistency. The results obtained suggested that the process of enzymatic interesterification catalyzed by Rhizopus oryzae immobilized on SiO2-PVA was effective in modulating the plasticity properties of the products obtained using both binary and ternary blends. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/05787-0 - Enzymatic interesterification of binary and ternary blends of milkfat with Brazil nut and canola oils: evaluation of strategies for maximizing the process performance and of the texture and sensory properties of the product
• Grantee: Gisele Fátima Morais Nunes
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate