The effect of 0.1-0.7% (w/w) of polyglycerol esters (PGEmix-8) on palm oil crystallization was studied using focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) to analyze the in-line changes of crystal size distribution during the crystallization. FBRM results show that 0.1-0.5% (w/w) of PGEmix-8 did not significantly affect nucleation but slightly retarded crystal growth. The use of 0.7% (w/w) additive showed greater heterogeneous nucleation compared to those with lower dosages of additive. Crystal growth was also greatly reduced when using 0.7% (w/w) dosage. The morphological study indicated that the palm oil crystals were smaller and more even in size than when more additive was added. Isothermal crystallization studies using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed increased inhibitory effects on palm oil crystal growth with increasing concentration of PGEmix-8. These results imply that PGEmix-8 is a nucleation enhancing and crystal growth retarding additive in palm oil crystallization at 0.7% (w/w) dosage.
The reduction of the 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol esters (3-MCPDE) and glycidyl esters (GE) was successfully achieved by the optimization of four processing parameters: phosphoric acid dosage, degumming temperature, bleaching earth dosage, and deodorization temperature by response surface methodology without the need for additional processing steps. The optimized processing conditions were 0.31% phosphoric acid dosage, 50 °C degumming temperature, 3% bleaching earth dosage, and 240 °C deodorization temperature. The optimization resulted in more than 80% and 65% reduction of 3-MCPDE and GE levels, respectively with color and FFA contents maintained in the acceptable range specified by Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia. The optimized refining condition was transferred to macro scale refining units of 1 kg and 3 kg capacities to investigate its successful application during scale-up process.
This paper examines the interactions of degumming and bleaching processes as well as their influences on the formation of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol esters (3-MCPDE) and glycidyl esters in refined, bleached and deodorized palm oil by using D-optimal design. Water degumming effectively reduced the 3-MCPDE content up to 50%. Acid activated bleaching earth had a greater effect on 3-MCPDE reduction compared to natural bleaching earth and acid activated bleaching earth with neutral pH, indicating that performance and adsorption capacities of bleaching earth are the predominant factors in the removal of esters, rather than its acidity profile. The combination of high dosage phosphoric acid during degumming with the use of acid activated bleaching earth eliminated almost all glycidyl esters during refining. Besides, the effects of crude palm oil quality was assessed and it was found that the quality of crude palm oil determines the level of formation of 3-MCPDE and glycidyl esters in palm oil during the high temperature deodorization step of physical refining process. Poor quality crude palm oil has strong impact towards 3-MCPDE and glycidyl esters formation due to the intrinsic components present within. The findings are useful to palm oil refining industry in choosing raw materials as an input during the refining process.