Patent ID: 8450453

Claim:
A process for recovering fatty acids, resin acids and sterols from tall oil pitch, said process comprising a) saponifying the tall oil pitch with an alkali to hydrolyse esters included in the pitch to free alcohols and organic acids in salt form, b) acidulating the saponified pitch with a mineral acid to convert the organic acids in salt form into free organic acids and to form an organic phase and an aqueous phase, c) separating the aqueous phase from the organic phase, d) evaporation fractionating the organic phase to obtain a distillate rich in sterols, fatty acids and resin acids, e) evaporation fractionating the distillate to obtain a bottom fraction rich in sterols, and a distillate rich in fatty acids and resin acids, and f) subjecting the sterols in the sterol-rich bottom fraction to crystallisation purification, wherein the amount of the mineral acid in the acidulation is such that the pH of the aqueous phase is less than 4, and wherein the organic phase is treated with an alkali in an amount in excess to that needed for destroying excess mineral acid used for acidulating the saponified pitch, resulting in a partial saponification of fatty acids and resin acids, the saponified fatty acids and resin acids being obtained in the bottom fraction of the evaporation fractionation in step d).