A new short‐path distillation system applied to the reduction of cholesterol in butter and lard

Abstract

A molecular distillation plant, built particularly to increase the separation efficiency and to obtain safer working conditions, was tested to remove cholesterol from anhydrous butter and lard. A preliminary experiment was carried out with butter to evaluate the fractionation obtained at temperatures between 190 and 250°C and residual pressures between 10−3 and 10−4 torr. A second experiment was carried out at 185°C and at the maximum operational vacuum, evaluating the fractionation achieved within a time scale between 30 and 180 min. Cholesterol was almost completely removed during the second hour with minimal loss of low‐molecular weight triglycerides. An experiment was carried out with lard at 250°C and maximum achievable operational vacuum (10−4 Torr), lasting approximately 6 h, and cholesterol was removed almost completely during the second hour without significant modifications in the triglyceride composition. This situation remained constant throughout the duration of the test.

Composition and Thermal Analysis of Lard Stearin and Lard Olein

“…Firmness of lard was improved through blending with hydrogenated stock 2 or hard component isolated from fractional crystallization. In the past, the separation of hard component of lard stearin has been accomplished through techniques such as short-path distillation 8 , supercritical carbon dioxide extraction 9 , or dry and solvent crystallization 10,11 . Although stearin is the mainly targeted product, a fair proportion of the liquid component is also recovered as the co-product of fractionation.…”

Purification and deodorization of structured lipids by short path distillation

“…In lipid areas, SPD has been used for the purification of monoacylglycerols [10], fractionation of polyunsaturated fatty acids from fish oils [11], recovery of carotenoids from palm oil [12], recovery of tocopherols [13], fractionation of squalene [14], reduction of cholesterol in butter and lard [15], purification of sugar ester [16], etc. However, there have been no detailed reports and systematic studies on the purification of structured lipids using SPD.…”

Physical refining of edible oils

“…The molecular distillation at 190-250°C was proposed for an almost complete removal of cholesterol from lard [157]. The method can be applied to butter oil and for the formation of cholesterol-free cream.…”