Process and apparatus for the interesterification of a triglyceride oil and products therefrom
AssigneeLever Brothers Company
InventorsCornelis N. M. Keulemans, Adrianus Rozendaal
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Abstract
The process is a discontinuous process wherein the oil is subjected to interesterification in a discrete charge and comprises bringing together streams comprising respectively at least a portion of a charge of triglyceride oil and catalyst solution of water, alkali metal, hydroxide and glycerol, homogenizing the mixture, reducing its water content, and interesterifying. The process can be performed either as a semi-continuous process or as a circulatory batch process. Preferably the homogenization and drying steps are combined and are performed by passage through a spray drying nozzle. The spray drying nozzle preferably sprays the mixture directly into the reaction vessel.
Claims21
A process for the interesterification of a triglyceride oil employing a catalyst solution comprising a mixture of water, an alkali metal hydroxide and glycerol, wherein the oil is subjected to interesterification in a discrete charge, the process comprising (1) bringing together streams comprising respectively the catalyst solution and at least a part of a charge of oil, (ii) passing the combined streams through a spray nozzle into a low pressure chamber and thereby (a) homogenizing the combined oil and catalyst solution by subjection to energetic shear, and (b) reducing the water content of the homogenized mixture within a period of 20 seconds so as to allow the formation of an active catalyst compnent and (iii) holding the mixture at a temperature sufficient to cause interesterification.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.