Resumen de Impact of Crude Oil Quality on the Refining Conditions and Composition of Nutraceuticals in Refined Palm Oil
Klicia A. Sampaio, Jose Vila Ayala, Vera Hoed, Simone Monteiro, Roberta Ceriani, Roland Verhé, Antonio J. A. Meirelles
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 °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 °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. Practical advantages and disadvantages of the use of different process conditions (temperature, steam percentage, and initial oil acidity) for the deacidification/deodorization of oils that are described, focusing on crude palm oil. The models and equations developed in this research can be applied in the palm oil refinery to predict the free fatty acids content, tocols content, and neutral oil losses. Therefore, this work can be used for the understanding and optimization of industrial process for palm oil production with high nutraceutical quality and low free fatty acid contents.
