Monitoring the Crystallization Behavior of Hydrogenated Coconut Oil Using Ultrasonic Phase Velocity

Fat crystals are known to affect the stability and applicability of fat-containing foods, and changes in quality during low-temperature preservation. Therefore, understanding fat crystallization behavior is important for product development and quality control. Ultrasonic measurement is a nondestructive, noncontact, and highly versatile on-line measurement method. Herein, we aim to verify the applicability of the ultrasonic characteristics to monitor fat crystallization behavior of hydrogenated coconut oil (HCO) using ultrasonic phase velocity (UPV) at 1.98 MHz under different cooling rates and with different emulsifier additives. The UPV was found to increase with decreasing HCO temperature, and the UPV-temperature relation had an inflection point at approximately 20–25 °C. The inflection point coincided with the crystallization onset temperature determined by differential scanning calorimetry. The density of HCO was found to increase with decreasing temperature, while the compressibility of HCO decreased with the temperature. From the Laplace equation established between the UPV (c) and the density (ρ), c = (ρβ)^−0.5, the increase in the compressibility (β) of UPV indicates a decrease in ρβ. Consequently, since the density increases with cooling, the dominant factor that causes an increase in UPV is a reduction in compressibility. The UPV of the solid phase was highly correlated with the crystallization enthalpy (R² = 0.99).