Patent ID: 7560579

Claim:
A process for preparing one or more purified fatty acids, said process consisting essentially of: (A) hydrolytic splitting of one or more oils and/or fats with a phosphorus content below 200 ppm and separating a composition comprising crude fatty acids, (B) heat-treating the composition obtained by step (A) in a thermal pre-treatment unit to provide a composition of crude fatty acids comprising at least 80% by weight (wt %) of free fatty acids, and (C) distilling the heat-treated composition obtained by step (B) in a high vacuum distillation unit to obtain a composition of purified fatty acids comprising below 0.5% by weight of monoglyceride, wherein the composition that is obtained by the thermal pre-treatment step (B) comprises less monoglycerides than the crude fatty acids obtained by step (A), and with the proviso that the hydrolytic splitting step (A) is not a saponification step.