Quality of crude oils and fats and recovery of minor components

A process for the recovery of tocols from oils and fats without destroying the naturally occurring components in the oils and fats and improving the quality of the oils and fats, said process comprising of the steps of:

• a) liquid-liquid extraction of oils and fats with urea solution in methanol or ethanol or methanol-ethanol mixture;
• b) subjecting the alcoholic extract obtained in step (a) to temperature between 0 and −25° C.;
• c) separating of the solids and liquid obtained in step (b) by filtration;
• d) concentrating the filtrate obtained in step (c) by partial removal of solvent;
• e) adding a hydrocarbon solvent to the contents obtained in step (d), and separating the solids obtained from the hydrocarbon-methanol layers by filtration or decanting;
• f) separating the hydrocarbon layer by draining away the lower methanol layer, washing the hydrocarbon layer with water, and further separating the hydrocarbon solvent layer by draining away the water layer;
• g) removing solvent from the hydrocarbon layer obtained in step (f) by low vacuum distillation;
• h) distilling the contents obtained in step (g) at about 85-100° C., 0.1 Pa to remove free fatty acids as distillate;
• i) distilling the residue obtained in step (h) at about 100-170° C., 0.1 Pa to obtain tocotrienol concentrate as distillate;
• j) washing thoroughly the residue obtained in step (c) with methanol or ethanol or methanol-ethanol mixture;
• k) removing solvent from the alcoholic solution obtained in step (j);
• l) dissolving the contents obtained in step (k) in hydrocarbon solvent, washing the solution with water, and separating the hydrocarbon solvent layer by draining away the water layer;
• m) removing solvent from the hydrocarbon layer obtained in step (l) by low vacuum distillation;
• n) distilling the contents obtained in step (m) at about 85-100° C., 0.1 Pa to remove free fatty acids as distillate;
• and
• o) distilling the residue obtained in step (n) at about 100-170° C., 0.1 Pa to obtain tocotrienol concentrate as distillate.