Lipase-catalyzed interesterification of high oleic sunflower oil and fully hydrogenated soybean oil comparison of batch and continuous reactor for production of zero trans shortening fats

Lipase-catalyzed interesterification of high oleic sunflower oil (HO) and fully hydrogenated soybean oil (FHSBO) at different weight ratios (55:45, 60:40, 65:35 and 70:30, HO:FHSBO) was carried out in both a batch-type reactor (BA) and a packed-bed reactor (PBR) to produce zero trans shortening. Interesterified products in both PBR and BA consisted of 34–46 g/100 g saturated fatty acids (SFA) (mainly stearic acid) and 54–66 g/100 g unsaturated fatty acid (USFA) (mainly oleic acid). After interesterification the physical characteristics such as melting point and solid fat content (SFC) were changed in each product. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) result showed that SFC content in PBR was higher than that in BA at each measured temperature. Decrease in tocopherols was also observed, however, the PBR product contained much higher amounts of tocopherols than BA product.