Applicability of liquid solvents for removing fatty acids and aldehydes from vegetable oils: Monte Carlo simulation of antioxidants and partial acylglycerols behavior

Abstract

Aiming to mitigate the problems caused by critical conditions applied in industrial processes, the search for alternative methods is necessary. Literature presents the liquid-liquid extraction as a mild alternative for the removal of free fatty acids and aldehydes from vegetal oils, which are extracted at high temperatures and low pressures. Among the side-effects of the current process, there are the 3-MPCD (3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol) due to chloride compounds trances and partial acylglycerols and trans fat formation, partial volatilization of tocopherols and thermal degradation of triacylglycerols; which are avoided due to ambient conditions applied in the solvent extraction. To optimize the liquid-liquid extraction and guarantee its security, the choice of the solvent is crucial. Besides data equilibrium involving oils and solvents, it is necessary to investigate the synergy between the above mentioned compounds and the minority ones, as antioxidants. The study of these systems by means of computational tools, as the Monte Carlo simulation methods, becomes an attractive alternative to study the microscopic behavior of these mixtures, allowing an analysis of the behavior of minor compounds, as antioxidants (tocopherols, tocotrienols and gamma-oryzanol) and partial acylglycerols, against the oil and the solvent. Such study is advocated in this project.