Statistical Mixture Design for Modelling and Optimization of Feed Mixture in the Chemical Interesterification to produce Cocoa Butter Alternatives

Abstract

This study aimed to find the optimum feed mixture consist of palm stearin (PS), palm olein (PO), and coconut oil (CO), for chemical interesterification to produce cocoa butter alternatives (CBA) with the most similar melting profile with cocoa butter. The feed mixture was chemically interesterified using sodium ethylate as the catalyst at a temperature of 75°C for 8 hours. Based on the melting profile analysis of the products, the pure coconut oil (CO-100) and pure palm stearin (PS-100) gave the most similar melting profile of cocoa butter alternatives. The CO-100 melting profile gave the least value of Sum of Square Error compared to Cocoa Butter Substitute while the PS-100 melting profile gave a similar result compared to Cocoa Butter Equivalent (CBE) and Cocoa Butter Replacer (CBR). However, PS-100 product does not meet the other specifications, such as Iodine value and slip melting point. Therefore, it can be concluded that pure coconut oil was the best feed for chemical interesterification to produce cocoa butter alternatives (CBA).