Optimization of tocopherol concentration process from soybean oil deodorized distillate using response surface methodology

Abstract

Soybean oil deodorized distillate is a product derived from the refining process and it is rich in high value-added products. The recovery of these unsaponifiable fractions is of great commercial interest, because of the fact that in many cases, the "valuable products" have vitamin activities such as tocopherols (vitamin E), as well as anticarcinogenic properties such as sterols. Molecular distillation has large potential to be used in order to concentrate tocopherols, as it uses very low temperatures owing to the high vacuum and short operating time for separation, and also, it does not use solvents. Then, it can be used to separate and to purify thermosensitive material such as vitamins. In this work, the molecular distillation process was applied for tocopherol concentration, and the response surface methodology was used to optimize free fatty acids (FFA) elimination and tocopherol concentration in the residue and in the distillate streams, both of which are the products of the molecular distiller. The independent variables studied were feed flow rate (F) and evaporator temperature (T) because they are the very important process variables according to previous experience. The experimental range was 4-12 mL/min for F and 130-200 degrees C for T. It can be noted that feed flow rate and evaporator temperature are important operating variables in the FFA elimination. For decreasing the loss of FFA, in the residue stream, the operating range should be changed, increasing the evaporator temperature and decreasing the feed flow rate; D/F ratio increases, increasing evaporator temperature and decreasing feed flow rate. High concentration of tocopherols was obtained in the residue stream at low values of feed flow rate and high evaporator temperature. These results were obtained through experimental results based on experimental design.

Optimizing refining temperatures to reduce the loss of essential fatty acids and bioactive compounds in tea seed oil

“…It is reported that most of the lost chemicals were removed to deodorizer distillate (Shimada et al, 2000). Other than temperature, vacuum is also an important factor that affects the removal of impurities such as tocopherol in the soybean oil refining process (Ramamurthi and McCurdy, 1993;Ito et al, 2007). We have found that reducing the operational temperatures in most refining steps could effectively remove undesirable impurities and prevent the loss of bioactive compounds using the same processing times and vacuum pressures, thus preserving the nutritional value of tea seed oil.…”

Physicochemical and pharmacological characterization of α-tocopherol-loaded nano-emulsion system

“…Vitamin E is an essential nutrient derived from various crops, such as barley, wheat, and soybean (Hakkarainen et al, 1984;Hall and Laidman, 1968;Ito et al, 2007). Vitamin E has several isomers, including ␣-, ␤-, ␥-, and ␦-tocopherols (Leth and Sondergaard, 1977), the activity and bioavailability of which vary depending on their structures and physicochemical properties.…”

High efficiency preparation of standard grade γ‐tocopherol and its antioxidant activity

“…Currently, numerous studies focused on obtaining mixed tocopherol from deodorized distillate (Hiromori et al, 2016;Ito et al, 2007;Zhou et al, 2009). Few studies paid attention to the separation and purification of γ-tocopherol.…”