State of the Art in Fractionation: New Product Design from Vegetable or Animal Fats

Modification processes like fractionation, interesterification, and hydrogenation allow us to extend the scope of application of major oils and fats. This presentation will review the fractionation process which consists of separating higher-melting (stearin) and lower-melting (olein) fractions from a crystallized slurry obtained by controlled cooling of the melted fat. Fractionation is usually conducted in dry conditions (no chemicals, no solvents). To optimize the process performance, different crystallizer types with appropriate designs are available. Some operate at high shear, some at low shear, and some in static conditions; as well, crystallization can be conducted in batch or in continuous mode. The separation is best carried out using automatic press filters, fitted with airtight membranes; the advantage lies in the higher olein percentage and the best stearin quality it yields. Vegetable oils like palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter…are usually fractionated for edible applications as well as animal fats like fish oil, tallow fat, lard fat, poultry fat, and milk fat. Fractionation can also be applied to fatty acids or to fatty esters.