| Abstract: | A commercial sample of the Brazilian palm oil from the north eastern State of Bahia after neutralisation, washing and drying was interesterified in the presence of sodium-potassium alloy (NaK) at 30°C in a nitrogen atmosphere. The catalyst was destroyed by addition of water in a carbon dioxide atmosphere and the interesterified oil was crystallised from light petroleum, yielding an olein and stearin fraction. The fatty acid and triacylglycerol composition of the neutralised oil was determined by gas chromatography (g.c.) and high-performance liquid chromatography (h.p.l.c.) respectively and was shown to be similar to that of Malaysian and African palm oil. The compositions of the interesterified Brazilian oil and its liquid and solid fractions were also determined. The physicochemical characteristics of the olein obtained by interesterification with NaK, such as iodine value (96.8) and its softening point (below ?8°C) indicated its suitability for the use as salad oil. |
