Organic compounds -- part of the class 532-570 series – Organic compounds – Fatty compounds having an acid moiety which contains the...
Patent
1996-06-05
2000-06-06
Carr, Deborah D.
Organic compounds -- part of the class 532-570 series
Organic compounds
Fatty compounds having an acid moiety which contains the...
554170, 502150, 502173, C11C 100
Patent
active
060720646
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a process for the interesterification of fats and oils.
In the preparation of partially hardened fats for use in cooking and frying fat, bread spread, such as margarine, and products having a lower fat content, the starting material used heretofore was oil which was subsequently partially hydrogenated. This hydrogenation was necessary, among other reasons, to obtain the desired melting point of the oil/fat phase, for instance for the purpose of obtaining sufficient spreadability. Hydrogenation can take place utilizing conventional hydrogenation catalysts, such as nickel catalysts.
As consumer awareness of the health hazards of the use of products obtained by hydrogenation grew, so grew the desire to reduce as far as possible the content of transisomers in the unsaturated fatty acids. In the natural products, only the cisisomer occurs, but hydrogenation also involves isomerization, leading to a cis-trans equilibrium. In the normal catalytic hydrogenation of soybean oil to form a product having a content of completely saturated fatty acids of from about 12 to 14%, a transisomer content of about 45% is obtained.
The method for preparing partially saturated fatty acids with a low transisomer content has already been investigated extensively. The first approach consists in adjusting the hydrogenation conditions, whereby hydrogenation is promoted in relation to isomerization by the use of much hydrogen at the surface of the catalyst. This means it is required to work at a low temperature, at a high hydrogen partial pressure and with a proportionally slight amount of catalyst in relation to the amount of component to be hydrogenated. With this method it is possible to obtain a transisomer content of about 10%, the saturated fatty acid content being about 15%. However, this method is commercially little attractive.
A second method for obtaining oils and fats having a low transisomer content is described, for instance, in "Inform, vol. 3, no 11 (November 1992), A. Rozendaal, Interesterification of oils and fats", as well as in EP-A 76682. This method, sometimes referred to as interesterification, is based on the principle that completely hydrogenated triglyceride is mixed with non-hydrogenated triglyceride in a ratio whereby the fatty acid composition of the mixture obtained corresponds with the fatty acid composition of the desired product. Then this mixture is treated with a catalyst which effects a completely random exchange of the fatty acid chains. As catalyst, a homogeneous catalyst based on sodium-methanolate or sodium hydroxide is used.
A disadvantage of the method which is described in the literature mentioned is the catalyst's lack of resistance to water. It is important to dry the feed well because otherwise deactivation of the catalyst arises. There is also a danger of soap formation of free fatty acids not priorly removed, and furthermore, upon completion of the reaction which must typically be conducted in a vacuum, a neutralization of the catalyst should take place, as well as a removal of the catalyst through washing. It should also be noted that a sodium-methanolate is a substance which is difficult to handle, its use on a larger scale being preferably avoided.
The object of the invention is to provide a method for the interesterification of triglycerides which does not possess the above-mentioned disadvantages or does so to an appreciably lesser extent.
The present invention is based on the surprising insight that the interesterification proceeds well when utilizing a heterogeneous catalyst based on one or more oxides and/or oxysalts of metals of the groups IA and IIA of the Periodic System, at least one of the oxides and/or oxysalts having an optical basicity .LAMBDA. which is at least 0.5.
Surprisingly, it has been found that precisely these heterogeneous catalysts are highly suitable for interesterification, it being noted that the reaction rate is too low at lower .LAMBDA.-values and, conversely, undesired by-products may be formed at too high .LAMBDA.-values.
REFERENCES:
Peterson et al., JAOCS, vol. 61, No. 10, p. 1593-97, Oct. 1984.
Bailey's Fat and Oil Products, 5th ed., vol. 1, 1996.
Peterson et al., JAOCS, vol. 61, No. 10, pp. 1593-1597, 1984.
Bayense Cornelis Roeland
Berben Pieter Hildegardus
Reesink Bernard Hendrik
Carr Deborah D.
Engelhard Corporation
Miller Stephen I.
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