Enzymatic interesterification of palm stearin and palm kernel olein

Abstract

Abstract Palm stearin (POs) and palm kernel olein (PKOo) blends were modified by enzymatic interesterification (IE) to achieve the physical properties of margarine fats. POs and PKOo are both products of the palm oil industry that presently have limited use. Rhizomucor miehei lipase (Lipozyme IM 60) was used to catalyze the interesterification of oil blends at 60°C. The progress of interesterification was monitored by following changes in triacylglyceride composition. At 60°C interesterification can be completed in 5 h. Degrees of hydrolysis obtained through IE for all blends were decreased from 2.9 to 2.0 by use of dry molecular sieves. The solid fat contents of POs/PKOo 30:70 and 70:30 interesterified blends were 9.6 and 18.1 at 20°C, and 0 and 4.1 at 35°C, respectively. The slip melting point (SMP) of POs/PKOo 30:70 was 40.0°C before interesterification and 29.9°C after IE. For POs/PKOs 70:30, SMP was 47.7 before and 37.5°C after IE. These thermal characteristics of interesterified POs/PKOo blend ratios from 30:70 to 70:30 were comparable to those of commercial margarines. Results showed that IE was effective in producing solid fats with less than 0.5% trans .