Enzymatic process for interesterification of fats and oils using distillation

摘要

There is disclosed a process for modifying fats and oils by an interesterification reaction to efficiently increase concentrations of the desired triglycerides. In the process, a step for subjecting a fat or oil to an interesterification reaction with a fatty acid or its lower alcohol ester in the presence of an enzyme catalyst and then a step for removing the fatty acid or its lower alcohol ester by distillation are repeated in multiple stages. The process is characterized by leaving the fat or oil and a feedstock fatty acid or its ester selectively in the distillation steps preceding the one in the final stage. According to this process, the amount of the fatty acid or its ester to be used can be reduced and the formation of by-products can be inhibited, thereby enabling to increase concentrations of the desired triglycerides more efficiently than conventional multistage interesterification processes.