Impact of Crude Oil Quality on the Refining Conditions and Composition of Nutraceuticals in Refined Palm Oil

Author(s)

Sampaio, Klicia A. ; Ayala, Jose Vila ; Van Hoed, Vera ; Monteiro, Simone ; Ceriani, Roberta ; Verhe, Roland ; Meirelles, Antonio J. A.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Journal of Food Science; v. 82, n. 8, p. 1842-1850, AUG 2017.
• Web of Science Citations: 6

Abstract

Palm oil is the major vegetable oil used worldwide due to its unique properties. The effect of crude palm oil acidity on the final free fatty acids (FFA) content, neutral oil loss (NOL), and nutraceutical compounds, such as carotenes, total tocols (tocopherols and tocotrienols), squalene, and phytosterols was investigated. A central composite design was employed to study the influence of the refining conditions: temperature (200 to 260 degrees C), steam percentage (0.5% to 3.5%), and initial FFA content (2.2% to 6.0%) on the quality of the refined product. The results revealed that initial palm oil acidity is a statistically important parameter to obtain commercially acceptable values for final FFA content. The increase of temperature presented the most important effect on the reduction of all nutraceutical compounds. The highest tocopherols (88%), phytosterols (98%), and squalene retention (84%) was obtained when applying the mildest temperature (200 degrees C). From the experimental results, 3 equations were generated enabling the prediction of the free fatty acids content, the tocols content, and the losses of neutral oil. Therefore, this work contributes to the understanding and optimization of the process for the production of palm oil with high nutraceutical quality and low free fatty acid contents. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/18253-0 - Phase equilibria in lipid and biofuel technologies
• Grantee: Roberta Ceriani
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Regular Program Grants
• FAPESP's process: 14/21252-0 - Equilibrium and production processes of biofuels and bioproducts
• Grantee: Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants