METHOD FOR DRY FRACTIONATION OF FATTY MATERIAL

Abstract: A method for dry fractionation of a fatty material which comprises fractionating the material into a solid fraction and a liquid fraction, said fractionation being carried out by introducing the fatty material (0) in a fluid state into a filter chamber (5) of a filter apparatus (4) having pressing means (7) and maintaining the fatty material (0) therein at a solids deposition temperature to deposit solid fatty material (0s) and said fractionation being carried out by pressing the filter chamber to fractionate the material into the solid fraction (0s) and the liquid fraction (01).

Description: The present invention relates to a method for dry fractionation of a raw fatty material composed of various components having different melting points. As a method for fractionation of a fatty material into fractions having different melting points, solvent fractionation using a solvent such as acetone, hexane or the like has been long known. Although fractionation can be effected precisely, this method is dangerous because a flammable solvent is used and further this method is not preferred in view of industrial safety because solvent vapour is detrimental to health. In addition, this method requires high production costs because of the increasing cost of the solvent consumed, heat energy cost for solvent recovery and installation costs of solvent recovery apparatus. As another fractionation method, emulsion fractionation using a surfactant is also known. However, this method has the defect of low fractionation efficiency (yield and quality). In addition, post-treatment for separating a fat or oil from an aqueous solution containing a surfactant is complicated, and a large apparatus and high cost are required for treating waste water containing a surfactant. As a yet further fractionation method, winterization has been long known. In this method, no solvent or surfactant is used, and a molten fat or oil is allowed to stand in a cooling tank at about 0°C to separate a lower solid layer from an upper liquid layer. This method requires many cooling tank facilities and takes several days until completion of fractionation. Therefore, productivity is low and fractionation efficiency is inferior to those of the above two methods. Recently, in order to eliminate the defects of these known fractionation methods, there has been proposed a fractionation method which comprises adding a hardened oil having a melting point of 55 to 75°C as seeding crystals to a heated molten fat or oil to accelerate crystallization, aging the mixture and filtering the mixture (Japanese Patent Kokoku No. 56-15759). This method is well applicable, when the amount of crystals after aging is relatively small (i.e., when the yield of the desired solid fraction is low). However, when the amount of crystals is large, pumping of crystals becomes difficult and therefore handling thereof takes much time. Further, as a method for fractionation of a fraction which is compatible with cacao butter from a vegetable fat such as mango kernel oil or sal fat, there has been proposed a method of dry fractionating fat which comprises adding β or β′ crystals obtained from a kernel fat or cacao fat as seed crystals to a molten heated vegetable fat, aging the mixture to form desired stable crystals, gradually cooling to a fractionation temperature to grow crystals and filtering the mixture under pressure (Japanese Patent Kokai No. 60-101197). However, in this dry fraction method, the resulting crystal aggregate has a paste-like consistency. Therefore, in order to effect fractionation, the paste-like crystal aggregate must be transferred from a tank or tray into bags suitable for filtration by pressing and the bags are piled up in a press to apply a pressure from the top to squeeze out the liquid fraction. This takes much time and requires a great deal of labour. Figs. 1(A) to 1(E) are schematic cross sections of a vertical membrane type filter press illustrating each step of the method of the present invention. According to the present invention, there is provided a method for dry fractionation of a fatty material, which comprises the steps of introducing the fatty material in a fluid state into a filter chamber of a filter apparatus having pressing means and a sealed filter surface, the sealing being effected by cooling and solidification on that surface of the fatty material, maintaining the fatty material therein at a solids deposition temperature to deposit solid fatty material, and actuating the pressing means to apply pressure to the fatty material, thereby breaking the filter seal and forcing the liquid fraction out of the filter chamber. That is, essentially, the present invention is characterized by deposition of crystals in a filter chamber and pressing a cake formed in the chamber to separate it into a crystalline fraction (solid fraction) and a liquid fraction. By the method of the present invention, it is possible to carry out fractionation of a fatty material efficiently without the problems resulting from the use of a flammable solvent. Preferably the filter apparatus is a membrane-type filter wherein the pressing means comprises a membrane and preferably the membrane is spaced apart from a first wall portion of the filter chamber to define a closed coolant space connected to coolant supply means, the filter chamber further including a filter vessel formed of filter cloth and into which vessel the fatty material is introduced, the filter vessel being arranged in the filter chamber in a space on the other side of the membrane to the coolant space and defined between the membrane and a second wall portion of the filter chamber, the coolant being used to maintain the fatty material at the solids deposition temperature and the membrane being actuated by introducing the coolant into the coolant space under pressure to press the membrane against the filter vessel. The fatty material to be fractionated in the present invention includes fats and oils such as animal fats, for example, tallow, lard and the like; vegetable fats, for example, palm oil shea fat, sal fat, mango kernel oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil and the like; various synthetic fats and oils; their hardened oils and fractional hardened oils derived from the foregoing oils; waxes; or mixtures thereof, for example. The method of the present invention is carried out by using a filter press apparatus. Unlike common solid-liquid separation, deposition of a solid (crystalline) fraction from fatty material depends upon temperature. Further, in order to carry out fractionation precisely, the deposition rate should be as low as possible. Therefore, the filter apparatus to be used is preferably a batch apparatus and, for treating a large amount of a fatty material, it is preferred to use a filter press having many filter chambers arranged in parallel with each other, particularly, a so-called variable-volume type or membrane type filter press wherein a filter chamber is pressed with a pressure resistant rubber diaphragm under static pressure. A filter apparatus of this type has a thin filter chamber such as several tens of mm in thickness and a large heat transfer area, which facilitates temperature control. In addition, even if the volume of each chamber is small, it is possible to treat several tons to several tens of tons of the fatty material at once by arranging many chambers in parallel with each other. Thus, such a filter apparatus is suitable for industrial practice of the present invention. However, there can be also used other types of filter apparatus, for example, X-press filter, automat press, tube press, VC filter, piston press and the like. In the method of the present invention, a fat material in a fluid state is introduced into a filter chamber and is maintained at a crystal deposition temperature to deposit solid fat. One feature of the present invention is to utilize the filter chamber itself as a container for deposition of solid fat by sealing the filter surface in the filter chamber with temporary sealing means, e.g. means which can be broken by pressing the fat, i.e. coagula of the fat material to be treated. This sealing can be effected by covering the filter surface with coagula of the fat material to form a sealing layer on the filter surface. In practice, this can be most readily effected by impregnating the filter medium which constitutes the filter surface with the fatty material and cooling the filter medium to a temperature lower than the solidifying point of the fatty material to form a sealing layer. In this way, so long as the temperature of the fatty material is not excessive, the sealing layer should not be broken when the fatty material is introduced into the filter chamber. After maintaining the fatty material in the filter chamber at a crystal deposition temperature, the filter chamber is pressed to break the sealing layer. Thereby, a liquid fraction is forced out from the filter chamber, while a cake (crystalline fraction) remains in the filter chamber. Thus, fractionation is completed. Now, a preferred embodiment of the method of the present invention is illustrated with reference to the accompanying Figs. 1(A) to 1(E) wherein a vertical membrane type filter press having a diaphragm pressing means is used. As shown in Figs 1(A) and 1(B), the filter press (4) has two filter cloths (6) held between body members (B) and (B′) of the filter press which members form a filter chamber (5). A fatty material to be treated (0) is introduced between the two filter cloths (6) via a conduit (2) by means of a pump (P). The conduit (2) is connected to a tank (1) which can heat or cool the fatty material (0). The material between the filter cloths (6) can be returned to the tank (1) through the conduit (3). One filter cloth is contacted with a diaphragm (7). A coolant (C) such as cold water at 0 to 30°C is introduced into the space between the diaphragm (7) and one body member (B) by a coolant supply means (not shown) to expand the diaphragm (7). When the diaphragm (7) is expanded, the material (0) between the two filter cloths is pressed to filter through the filter cloths (6). Firstly, the fatty material (0) is melted by heating in the tank and introduced between the two cloths (6) in the filter chamber (5) through the conduit (2) to impregnate the filter cloths (6) with the material [see Fig. 1(A)]. Then, the material is returned to the tank (1) through the conduit (3) and the coolant is introduced into the space between the diaphragm (7) and the body member (B). The pressure of the coolant is raised to expand the diaphragm (7) so that it contacts the filter cloths. Thereby, the material impregnated in the filter cloths (6) is cooled with the coolant (C(f)) through the diaphragm (7) to solidify the material [see Fig. 1(B)]. In this case, the temperature of the coolant (C(f)) is maintained at several to several ten degrees centigrade lower than the fractionation temperature of the material (i.e., the temperature to be maintained in subsequent fractionation of the material) to prevent passage through the filter cloths of the material to be subsequently introduced into the filter chamber. Subsequently, the fatty material (0) in the tank (1) is cooled to the crystal deposition temperature (e.g., to 5 to 40°C) while it is maintained in its fluid state and it is introduced into the filter chamber (5) through the conduit (2). The material is maintained in the chamber at a fractionation temperature (e.g., at 0 to 40°C) [see Fig. 1 (C)]. When introducing the material, most preferably, the fatty material is in a state just before initiation of crystal deposition. However, fatty material in such a state that crystals are somewhat deposited, particularly, such that about 20% or less, preferably about 5% or less, of the total crystals, and more preferably no solid at all, are deposited, can be also preferred. When the amount of crystals deposited in the material to be treated is too much, crystals having good pressing efficiency are hardly obtainable. Then the fatty material (0) in the filter chamber (5) is maintained at the deposition or fractionation temperature until a predetermined amount of crystals (e.g., corresponding to 30 to 90% by weight based on the total amount of the fatty material) is deposited. Under normal conditions, it is necessary to cool the filter chamber during this step to prevent a rise in temperature of the fatty material due to heat transfer from the outside. It is desirable that the temperature of the coolant to be introduced for this purpose be, at the lowest, 15°C lower than the fractionation temperature of the fatty material. When the temperature difference is too much, local supercooling is caused and even a low melting point fraction is crystallized, which results in a decrease in precision of fractionation. When the predetermined amount of crystals is deposited, the solid-liquid mixture is pressed by expanding the diaphragm with the pressurized coolant (C) to fractionate it into a cake (solid fraction) (0s) and a filtrate (liquid fraction) (0 ). Usually, the mixture is maintained for a certain period of time, e.g., 0.5 to 10 hours at a pressure of 490 to 9806 kPa (5 100 kg/cm²) [see Fig 1(D)]. Then, the filter press (4) is opened, and the cake (0s) is removed from the filter cloth [see Fig. 1(E)]. The steps illustrated hereinabove are for a first cycle of the operation and, in second and subsequent cycles, impregnation of the filter cloths with the molten fatty material and solidification thereof are not required. The method of the present invention is suitable for obtaining high melting point and low melting point fractions in high quality from fatty materials, for example, fats and oils such as animal fats, for example, tallow, lard and the like; vegetable fats, for example, palm oil, shea fat, sal fat, mango kernel oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil and the like; various synthetic fats and oils; their hardened oils and fractional hardened oils; waxes; a mixture thereof; and the like. Particularly, the method of the present invention is suitable for obtaining a hard butter fraction in high quality. Especially, the method of the present invention is suitable for fractionation of a large amount of a crystal fraction. For example, according to the method of the present invention, a large amount of a crystal fraction such as more than 30% of a crystal fraction can be fractionated in high precision from a fatty material such as palm kernel oil only by cooling. Further, the method of the present invention is economical because the apparatus used in the present invention requires only a tank and a filter having a pressing means, which costs very little and unattended operation is possible. The following Examples and Reference Examples further illustrate the present invention in detail but are not to be construed to limit the scope thereof. In the Examples and Reference Examples, all "%'s" and "parts" are by weight unless otherwise stated. Example 1 Deacidified palm kernel oil having a clear melting point of 31°C (fatty material) was placed in a tank and melted by heating to about 50°C. The oil was introduced into filter chambers of a membrane type vertical filter press having 20 filter chambers to thoroughly impregnate the filter cloths in the chambers with the oil. The oil was returned to the tank, and cold water at about 20°C was introduced in the space between the diaphragm and a body member of the filter press to cool the filter chamber and filter cloths to solidify the impregnated palm kernel oil to form a sealing layer. Palm kernel oil in the tank was cooled with stirring to about 25°C and then introduced between the filter cloths having the sealing layer in the cooled filter chambers. The palm kernel oil was maintained in the filter chambers for 90 minutes, while cold water at 20°C was circulated through the space between the diaphragm and the body member (the coolant space). Then, an outlet valve from the coolant space was closed and a pressure of 490 kPa (5 kg/cm²) was applied. The pressure was gradually increased up to 4903 kPa (50 kg/cm²) and the filter chamber was maintained in this state for an additional 90 minutes to press the crystallized oil and to squeeze out the liquid fraction. After pressing, the filter press was opened and a cake (solid fraction) in the filter chambers was recovered. The properties and yield ratio of the solid and liquid fractions thus obtained are as shown in Table 1. Acid value Iodine value Melting point (°C) Yield ratio Fatty material 0.49 17.7 28.2 - Liquid fraction 0.81 28.9 17.3 49.8 Solid fraction 0.17 6.58 32.1 50.2 The solid fraction has the following solid fat index (SFI) which shows that the fraction has an excellent quality as a hard butter. SFI 5°C : 68.8 22.5°C : 64.8 32.5°C : 7.9 10°C : 68.5 25°C : 60.4 35°C : 0.0 15°C : 68.0 27.5°C : 53.3 20°C : 66.5 30°C : 37.7 Example 2 Shea fat treated with ethanol (fatty material) was placed in a tank and melted by heating to about 50°C. In the same manner as described in Example 1, the fat was introduced into filter chambers to thoroughly impregnate the filter cloths in the chambers with the fat. The fat was returned to the tank, and cold water at about 20°C was introduced in the space between the diaphragm and the body member of the filter press to cool the filter chambers and filter cloths to solidify the impregnated shea fat to form a sealing layer. Shea fat in the tank was cooled with stirring to about 25°C and then introduced between the sealed filter cloths in the cooled filter chambers. The fat was maintained in the filter chambers for 4 hours, while cold water at 20°C was circulated through the spaces between the diaphragms and the body members to thoroughly crystallize the fat in the chambers. Then, pressure was gradually applied up to 2942 kPa (30 kg/cm²) and each filter chamber was maintained in this state for an additional 30 minutes to press the fat to separate the liquid fraction. After pressing, the filter press was opened and a cake (solid fraction) in each filter chamber was recovered. The properties and yield ratio of the solid and liquid fractions thus obtained are as shown in Table 2. A mixture of the above-obtained shea fat solid fraction and palm mid fraction (50 : 50) which is refined according to a conventional method has the following solid fat index (SFI), and a chocolate produced by using the mixture shows excellent tempering properties and heat resistance. Example 3 Soft palm oil having an iodine value of 56.9 (fatty material) was placed in a tank and melted by heating to about 50°C. In the same manner as described in Example 1, the oil was introduced into filter chambers of a membrane type vertical filter press to thoroughly impregnate the filter cloths in the chambers with the oil. The oil was returned to the tank, and cold water at about 10°C was introduced in the space between the diaphragm and a body member of the filter press to cool the filter chambers and filter cloths to solidify the impregnated soft palm oil to form a sealing layer. Palm kernel oil in the tank was cooled with stirring to about 15°C and then introduced between the filter cloths having the sealing layers in the cooled filter chambers. The soft palm oil was maintained in the filter chamber for about 3 hours, while cold water at 13°C was circulated through the space between the diaphragm and the body member to thoroughly crystallize the oil. Then, pressure was gradually applied up to 2451 kPa (25 kg/cm²) and the filter chambers were maintained in this state for an additional 50 minutes to press the oil and to separate the liquid fraction. After pressing, the filter press was opened and a cake (solid fraction) in each filter chamber was recovered. The properties and yield ratio of the solid and liquid fractions thus obtained are as shown in Table 3. Iodine value Melting point (°C) Yield ratio Fatty material 56:9 20.2 - Liquid fraction 67.8 - 53.3 Solid fraction 44.1 27.2 46.7 The liquid fraction has a cloud point of -1°C which shows that the fraction is excellent as a raw material for a salad oil. Reference Example 1 In the same manner as described in Example 1, fractionation of palm kernel oil was carried out except that formation of the sealing layer by impregnation of the filter cloths with the oil was not effected. In this case, since the oil introduced into the filter chambers leaked out through meshes of the filter cloths, only about 70% of the desired amount of the oil was introduced into the filter chambers. Further, the outlet of the filter press was clogged, which resulted in low precision of fractionation. The fractionated solid fraction had low heat resistance and was inferior in quality as a hard butter. The properties and yield ratio are shown in Table 4. Reference Example 2 In the same manner as described in Example 1, fractionation of palm kernel oil was carried out except that palm kernel oil in the tank was cooled to 22°C to crystallize out about 31% of total crystals and the cooled oil was pressed immediately after being introduced into the filter chambers. The fractionated solid fraction had low heat resistance and was inferior in quality to a hard butter. The properties and yield ratio are shown in Table 5. As may be seen from Table 5, precision of fractionation is very low. Reference Example 3 In the same manner as described in Example 2, fractionation of shea fat treated with ethanol was carried out except that the fat introduced into the filter chambers was allowed to stand at room temperature (20°C) for 5 hours without cooling with cold water, and then pressed. Yield of a solid fraction having a low iodine value was very low.The results are shown in Table 6. Reference Example 4 In the same manner as described in Example 3, fractionation of soft palm oil was carried out except that the fatty material was cooled to 12°C in the tank to thoroughly crystallize it and then introduced into the filter chamber. As shown in Table 7, precision of fractionation is very low. The method of the invention may be used in the preparation of foodstuffs, e.g. to prepare salad oil or hard butter for use in the manufacture of chocolate.

Claims: A method for dry fractionation of a fatty material (0), which comprises the steps of introducing the fatty material (0) in a fluid state into a filter chamber (5) of a filter apparatus (4) having pressing means (7) and a sealed filter surface, the sealing being effected by cooling and solidification on that surface of the fatty material (0), maintaining the fatty material (0) therein at a solids deposition temperature to deposit solid fatty material (0s), and actuating the pressing means (7) to apply pressure to the fatty material (2) thereby breaking the filter seal and forcing the liquid fraction (0) out of the filter chamber (5). A method according to claim 1, wherein the fatty material (0) is introduced into the filter chamber (5) at such a temperature that at the time of introduction of the fatty material (0) into the chamber (5) there is deposited no more than 20% by weight of the total of the solids (0s) which are deposited during the performance of the method. A method according to claim 2, wherein no more than 5% by weight of said total solids (0s) is deposited at the time of introduction of the fatty material into the chamber (5) and preferably no solid is deposited at that time. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the filter apparatus (4) is a membrane type filter wherein the pressing means comprises a membrane (7) and preferably the membrane (7) is spaced apart from a first wall portion of the filter chamber (5) to define a closed coolant space connected to coolant supply means, the filter chamber (5) further including a filter vessel formed of filter cloth (6) and into which vessel the fatty material (0) is introduced, the filter vessel being arranged in the filter chamber (5) in a space on the other side of the membrane (7) to the coolant space and defined between the membrane (7) and a second wall portion of the filter chamber (5), the coolant (C) being used to maintain the fatty material (0) at the solids deposition temperature and the membrane (7) being actuated by introducing the coolant (C) into the coolant space under pressure to press the membrane against the filter vessel. A method according to claim 4 wherein the temperature of the coolant (C) is not more than 15°C lower than the deposition temperature of the fatty material (0) when the fatty material (0) is being maintained at its deposition temperature. A method of obtaining a high melting point fraction or a low melting point fraction from a fatty material comprising fractions of different melting points, the method comprising performing a method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and recovering, respectively, the solid material (0s) remaining in the filter chamber or the liquid material (01) forced out of the filter chamber. The use of a method according to claim 6 in the preparation of an edible substance, especially chocolate. A method according to claim 6 wherein the high melting fraction is a hard butter and the method is used in the preparation of chocolate.

Inventors: ASAHARA, KAZUHITO, EBIHARA, YOSHITAKA, HIDAKA, HIROSHI, HIGUCHI, KIYOYUKI, IWASA, HIROSHI, KUBOTA, HAYATO, MAEDA, HIROKAZU
Applicants: FUJI OIL COMPANY, LIMITED
Application year: 1987
Main classification: C11B7
IPC codes: C11B7