| Abstract: | Dry fractionation is a well‐established and versatile fat modification technology that can produce a broad spectrum of edible oils and fats. Due to its specific chemical composition, especially palm oil can be processed by this technology into fractions that serve as salad oils, frying oils, margarine fats. Whereas the first step of this multi‐stage production process is well understood, the edible oil industry all over the world is much more often confronted with problems in the second stage of the process, when the liquid palm olein is further fractionated. The process of palm olein crystallization is indeed a lot more difficult to control. This article therefore elaborately explains the main, fundamental causes for this sensitivity of palm olein during the fractional crystallization. It further discusses which and how components present in refined palm olein can be responsible for process instability and how they affect the quality of the end products on an industrial scale. The article also highlights which novelties and innovation in dry fractionation technology are currently under investigation. |
