PROCESS FOR SEPARATING STEROLS AND ACIDS FROM TALL OIL PITCH

摘要

The invention telates to a processfor 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 toafirst high vacuum evaporation to obtain an unsaponifiable fraction as a distillate and a firstresidue, 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 firstresidue 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 secondresidue, said process additionally comprising providing pitch-based heavy components in the dried saponified pitch in an amount facilitating the first high vacuum evaporation.