Effect of vegetable oil oxidation on the hydrogenation reaction process

Abstract

Hydrogenation has been carried out in a batch reactor with three different oxidized bleached oils in order to discover the effect of oxidation on the hydrogenation reaction process. Specifications of hydrogenated oils such as melting point, Iodine value, solid fat content and fatty acid composition of the oxidized oils were compared with their un-oxidized reference oils. Oxidized bleached sunflower oil was hydrogenated to target melting points (34, 39 and 42°C) at higher iodine values vs. its reference oil with the same reaction time. Oxidized bleached soybean and canola oils were hydrogenated to target melting points (34, 39 and 42°C) at higher iodine values as well, but reaction times were longer than their reference oils. The resulting solid fat content and total trans fatty acids of all hydrogenated oils were less than their references. A peroxide value above 0.5meq O2/kg for non auto-oxidized oils and above 5meq O2/kg for auto-oxidized oils will significantly change the hydrogenation process.

Keywords

• fatty acids composition
• hydrogenation time
• oxidation
• solid fat content
• vegetable oil