Kinetic analysis of isothermal crystallization in hydrogenated palm kernel stearin with emulsifier mixtures

The kinetics of isothermal crystallization of hydrogenated palm kernel stearin (HPKS) with emulsifiers was evaluated by applying the Avrami equation. Effects of five commercial emulsifiers (lecithin, monoglyceride, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, Span 60, and Tween 60) on crystallization behaviors were tested at four different isothermal temperatures (15, 20, 25, and 30 °C). It is shown that, as temperature increases, induction time for HPKS samples generally increased especially from 25 to 30 °C. Meanwhile, different nucleation mechanisms were observed according to Avrami exponent (n) values. The addition of emulsifiers generally accelerated crystallization rate without changing the growth mechanism (plate-like growth) under 25 °C. However, when the temperature increased to 30 °C, n ranged from 1.0 to 5.1, which indicated different nucleation mechanisms induced by different emulsifiers. Avrami constant (k) (indicating the crystallization rate) decreased as the temperature increased except for samples with Span 60. At higher temperatures, values of t_1/2 were significantly higher which reflects the decrease in k at higher temperatures. Crystal microstructures at 30 °C were obtained by using polarized light microscope. Lecithin and Span 60 samples showed large and dense crystals compared with the control sample. Tween 60 sample showed very small crystals which aggregated in a line trend. However, small differences were observed in fractal dimension results except for Tween 60 sample.