Patent ID: 8680324

Claim:
A process for recovering sterols and fatty and/or resin acids from tall oil pitch, comprising the steps of: a) saponifying tall oil pitch to provide saponified tall oil pitch, b) drying the saponified pitch to obtain dried saponified pitch, c) subjecting the dried saponified pitch to a first high vacuum evaporation to obtain an unsaponifiable fraction as a distillate and a first residue, d) optionally subjecting said distillate to a second high vacuum evaporation to obtain an enriched unsaponifiable fraction, e) crystallizing sterols from the unsaponifiable fraction or the enriched un-saponifiable fraction, f) acidulating the first residue obtained in step c) to obtain an aqueous phase and an organic phase, separating the aqueous phase and drying the organic phase to obtain a dried organic phase, and g) subjecting the dried organic phase to vacuum distillation to obtain fatty and/or resin acids and a second residue, said process additionally comprising providing a softener having pitch-based heavy components in the dried saponified pitch in an amount sufficient to enable evaporation of the unsaponifiable fraction during the first high vacuum evaporation, wherein the softener is obtained only from the tall oil pitch.