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BR-122026003173-A2 - PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A FAT COMPOSITION COMPRISING AN ESTERIFICATION STEP AND FAT COMPOSITIONS

BR122026003173A2BR 122026003173 A2BR122026003173 A2BR 122026003173A2BR-122026003173-A2

Abstract

A process for producing a composition comprising triglycerides is disclosed, wherein the process comprises an esterification step and a fat composition produced by the process. The invention further relates to a structuring fat comprising the fat composition obtained by the process disclosed in the present invention.

Inventors

  • ANNE BRINKO
  • JEPPE LINDEGAARD HJORTH

Assignees

  • AAK AB (PUBL)

Dates

Publication Date
20260317
Application Date
20201218
Priority Date
20191220

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A process for producing a fat composition comprising triglycerides, wherein the composition contains: a) at least 8% by weight of SatSatSat triglycerides (saturated fatty acids C8 - C22), and b) at least 10% by weight of stearic acid (C18:0), characterized in that, in said process, at least a portion of the fatty acids constituting the triglycerides present in said composition has been subjected to a hydrogenation step, and in said process comprises an esterification step, and in which none of the triglycerides in the fat composition are subjected to hydrogenation at any time in the process.
  2. 2. Process according to claim 1, characterized in that the triglyceride content SatSatSat is at least 10% by weight, such as at least 20% by weight, such as at least 30% by weight, such as at least 40% by weight, such as at least 50% by weight, such as at least 60% by weight.
  3. 3. Process according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the C16 content in the composition is less than 50% by weight, such as less than 40% by weight, such as less than 30% by weight, such as less than 20% by weight, such as less than 10% by weight, such as less than 5% by weight.
  4. 4. Process according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the stearic acid (C18:0) content is at least 15% by weight, such as at least 20% by weight, such as at least 25% by weight, such as at least 30% by weight, such as at least 40% by weight.
  5. 5. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: a) providing a vegetable fat or oil; b) subjecting said vegetable fat or oil to a hydrolysis process, obtaining glycerol and free fatty acids; c) subjecting at least part of the free fatty acids from said hydrolysis process of step b) to a hydrogenation process, thus fully saturating said free fatty acids to form a first mixture of free fatty acids; d) optionally adding more free fatty acids to said first mixture of free fatty acids, to form a second mixture of free fatty acids; e) re-esterifying said mixture of free fatty acids from step c) and/or step d) with glycerol to form said triglycerides SatSatSat; e) and f) carry out a distillation process on the SatSatSat triglyceride product resulting from step e) to remove residual reagents, thereby obtaining the aforementioned fat composition containing at least 10% by weight of stearic acid (C18:0) and at least 8% by weight of SatSatSat triglycerides.
  6. 6. Process according to claim 5, characterized in that the re-esterification of step e) comprises the steps of: i. combining glycerol and the free fatty acid mixture in a container to obtain a combination of glycerol and free fatty acid mixture; ii. heating said combination under reduced pressure for a predefined period of time; iii. further increasing the temperature and heating said combination for a predefined period of time while simultaneously further decreasing the pressure compared to step ii); iv. maintaining said combination at the temperature and pressure of step iii) for a predefined period of time.
  7. 7. Process according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the re-esterification process of step e) is carried out without the application of a catalyst.
  8. 8. Process according to claim 7, characterized in that the combination of step iii) is heated to at least 160 °C.
  9. 9. Process according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the combination of step iii) is heated to a maximum of 240 °C.
  10. 10. Process according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the glycerol and the free fatty acid mixture of step i) is mixed in a ratio of 1:3.125 or up to 1:10 (mol of glycerol:mol of free fatty acids) to obtain the combination of glycerol and free fatty acid mixture.
  11. 11. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the entire process is completed in less than 24 hours, such as in less than 20 hours, such as in less than 15 hours, such as in less than 10 hours.
  12. 12. Process according to any one of claims 5 to 11, characterized in that said vegetable fat or oil is selected from the group consisting of shea oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, palm oil, corn oil, canola oil and/or their high oleic equivalents, coconut oil, palm kernel oil and mixtures thereof.
  13. 13. Process according to any one of claims 5 to 12, characterized in that the fatty acid composition of said vegetable fat or oil comprises 65% by weight, such as 75% by weight, such as 85% by weight, such as more than 90% by weight of C18.
  14. 14. Process according to any one of claims 5 to 13, characterized in that the vegetable fat or oil does not originate from palm plants.
  15. 15. Process according to any one of claims 5 to 14, characterized in that the vegetable fat or oil is shea oil, such as shea olein obtained by fractionation of shea oil.
  16. 16. Structuring fat composition, characterized in that it comprises the fat composition obtained by the process defined in any one of claims 1 to 15.
  17. 17. Structuring fat composition according to claim 16, characterized in that it is additionally subjected to an interesterification process, for example chemical interesterification or enzymatic interesterification.
  18. 18. Structuring fat composition according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that it further comprises one or more of the vegetable fats or oils selected from the group consisting of shea oil, sal oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, palm oil, corn oil, canola oil and/or their high oleic equivalents, coconut oil, palm kernel oil and mixtures thereof.
  19. 19. Structuring fat composition according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that it does not contain palm oil or palm kernel oil.
  20. 20. Fat composition, characterized in that it comprises at least 10% by weight of stearic acid and 8% by weight of saturates and which is not hydrogenated.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION [001] The present invention relates to a process for producing a fat composition comprising triglycerides, wherein the process comprises an esterification step and a fat composition produced by the process. The invention further relates to a structuring fat comprising the fat composition obtained by the process disclosed in the present invention. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [002] There is a growing focus on avoiding the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. The World Health Organization argues that removing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils from the food supply would result in substantial health benefits. [003] After determining in June 2015 that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) were no longer ‘generally recognized as safe’ for use in human food, the United States Food and Drug Administration requested that food manufacturers remove them from products by June 2018. [004] Because of this, consumers want to avoid hydrogenated food products and therefore there is a desire in the food industry not to have to label food products that are being hydrogenated. [005] US7951967 describes an esterification reaction without the use of a catalyst, but the reaction disclosed in the present invention requires a high temperature between 200 and 320 °C and a high atmospheric pressure of up to 10 bar (1 mPa) to operate efficiently. Such a setup requires specialized equipment, a lot of energy, and the high temperature can be detrimental to the oil-producing polymers and other undesirable reactions, increasing peroxide levels, increasing oil color, etc. [006] Consequently, the main objective of the invention is to provide a simple way to produce a fat composition - preferably a fat product that does not need to be labeled as hydrogenated, which can be subsequently interesterified with a variety of vegetable oils to produce a fat product similar to existing fat products on the market. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [007] The present invention relates to a process for producing a fat composition comprising triglycerides, wherein the composition contains: a) at least 8% by weight of SatSatSat triglycerides (saturated fatty acids C8 - C22), and b) at least 10% by weight of stearic acid (C18:0), wherein in said process, at least a portion of the fatty acids constituting the triglycerides present in said composition has been subjected to a hydrogenation step and wherein said process comprises an esterification step. [008] By the present process it is possible to obtain a fat composition comprising triglycerides, wherein the composition contains at least 8% by weight of SatSatSat triglycerides (C8-C22 saturated fatty acids) and at least 10% by weight of stearic acid (C18:0), without using shea stearin, mango oil or salt oil as starting material. These sources have limited supply and are therefore expensive materials for use in production. The fat composition obtained can then be used in an interesterification reaction with other oils to replace shea oil and/or shea stearin in interesterification reactions where shea oil and/or shea stearin would otherwise be a component. [009] The present invention also relates to a structuring fat composition comprising the fat composition obtained by the process according to the present invention. [010] The present invention also comprises a fat composition comprising at least 10% by weight of stearic acid and 8% by weight of SatSatSat and which do not need to be labeled as hydrogenated. As mentioned, there is a growing focus among consumers on avoiding hydrogenated food products. Thus, there is a need for fat compositions that do not have to be labeled as hydrogenated oils and fats in the industry. [011] The fat composition is, in one embodiment, a product that resembles an interesterified shea oil composition or an interesterified shea stearin composition. The fat composition is, in one embodiment, a product that has many characteristics in common with an interesterified shea oil composition or an interesterified shea stearin composition, for example, such as similar content of stearic acid (St) and oleic acid (O). By resembling in one embodiment means that the fat composition of the present invention has a melting curve (solid fat content) comparable to that of interesterified shea oil or shea stearin measured using IUPAC 2150. [012] The present invention also relates to a structuring fat composition comprising a fat composition containing at least 10% by weight of stearic acid and 8% by weight of SatSatSat and which need not be labeled as hydrogenated and further comprising an oil containing 20 to 90% by weight of oleic acid. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING [013] Figure 1 shows the melting profile of the fat composition as produced in example 2 and of a reference interesterified shea stearin. [014] Figure 2 shows the fusion profile of the products produced as produced in example 3 and example 4. DEFINITIONS [015] As used in the present invention, the te