Abstract—This study evaluated the effects of chemical interesterification (CIE) using sodium methoxide on refined palm oil (PO), palm kernel oil (PKO) and their constituent blends formulated using a mixture design based on simplex-lattice (Design Expert 8.0.4 Stat-Ease Inc., Minneapolis, 2010). The slip melting point (SMP), solid fat content (SFC), triacylglycerol composition (TAG), and microstructural of non-interesterified and interesterified blends were determined. Results indicated that all the interesterified PO and blends had higher SMP and SFC than non-interesterified blends except for PKO. Chemical interesterification also altered the distributions of fatty acids in TAG of blends and consequently modifies the microstructure of PO, PKO and blends following interesterification. This study has demonstrated chemical interesterification is effective in modifying the physicochemical properties of palm oil and palm kernel oil blends.
Index Terms—Chemical interesterification, design-expert, palm oil, palm kernel oil.
Siti Hazirah Mohamad Fauzi, and Zaliha Omar are with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysia (e-mail: sitihazirah@mpob.gov.my, zaliha@mpob.gov.my).
Norizzah Abd. Rashid is with the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia (e-mail: norizzah850@salam.uitm.edu.my).
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Cite: Siti Hazirah Mohamad Fauzi, Norizzah Abd. Rashid, and Zaliha Omar, "Physicochemical and Microstructural Properties of Refined Palm Oil-Palm Kernel Oil Blends Following Chemical Interesterification," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 81-84, 2016.
