Modeling the Physical Properties of Chemically Interestrified Shortenings of Ardeh Oil and Palm Stearin

One of the successful processes in the production of trans-free-fats is chemical interesterification. In this study, the effects of chemical interesterification reaction on slip melting point (SMP) and solid fat percentage (SFC) in the blends of Ardeh oil and Palm stearin as a solid component with a weight / weight ratio (50:50 to 60:40 and 75: 25) was investigated. The interesterification reaction was carried out at a temperature of 70 ° C under vacuum conditions in the presence of 0.5% wt sodium methoxied catalyst. To achieve the suitable SMP and SFC, special operations such as (heating, chilling and stirring) were carried out on shortening. As a result, trans free shortenings were produced such as all-purpose shortening and pie crust shortening. Modeling of SFC% of chemically interesterified binary blends of Ardeh oil and Palm stearin was also performed using regression models. Preliminary studies showed that significant correlation exist between SFC and temperature or saturated fatty acids (SFA) content. The SFC curve of interesterified fats as a function of temperature (SFCf(T)( or SFA (SFCf(SFA)( and the SMP as a function of SFA (SMPf(SFA)( had S shape and could be described using the sigmoidal Gompertz model. The presented models can obviate the need for advanced instrumentation and can be especially helpful in development of new fat formulations.