Le Chatelier's principle
The manufacturing process of lactylates is an esterification reaction. The water coproduct is removed by evaporation to drive the reaction towards the desired product composition in accordance with Le Chatelier's principle. Water removal is accomplished either by sparging with a constant stream of dry nitrogen or by vacuum outgassing with the use of a vacuum pump system. Using nitrogen sparging or vacuum outgassing also protects the reaction mixture from undesirable oxidation processes.