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INTRODUCTION

There are approximately 20-25 fatty acids that occur widely in nature are produced from commodity oils and fats, and find major use for food and nutrition applications with the remainder being used by the oleochemical industry to produce soaps, detergents, personal care products, lubricants, paints and more recently, biodiesel.

The first step in fatty acid production is the splitting or hydrolysis of the triglyceride molecules of fats and oils in the presence of water to yield glycerine and a mixture of fatty acids. (Gunstone et al., 2007a)

Figure : Splitting or hydrolysis of fat or oil triglycerides to fatty acids and glycerine

The degree of triglyceride hydrolysis is important as residual mono-, di-, triglycerides and free glycerol in the fatty acid prior to distillation will result in more distillation pot residue (Potts, 1956). The fatty acids from the fat splitting process are relatively dark in color and contain various impurities. The fatty acids are subsequently purified or separated into fractions by distillation and fractionation.

Purification of fatty acids by distillation is still the most common and most efficient means of producing high purity fatty acids. Distillation removes both the low and high boiling impurities as well as odor substances. Distillation of fatty acids may be either batch or continuous process at atmospheric pressure or under reduced pressure. It may be simple distillation involving purification of mixed fatty acids or fractional distillation consisting of both purification and separation of fatty acids according to chain length (Gervajio, 2005; Muckerheide, 1952; Potts & White, 1953).

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