Physical characteristics of palm oil products

The solid fat content of a fat determines its applications and usage. As an oil with saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in roughly equal proportions, solids exist from 50°C down to 10°C (Table 3.7). At a temperature of 10°C, the solid content amounts to about 50%, reducing to half of this at 20°C. The variation between samples arises from differences in fatty acid and TAG compositions, as well as in the levels of diacylglycerol in the oil. Siew and Ng (1999) observed that 10% of added diacylglycerol reduces the solids content by 20%. 

of samples Palm oila 244 Palm oleina 238 Super oleinb 32 Palm stearin3 205 Palm mid fraction0 39 Palm mid fractiond  

Source aSiew et al. 1992 bTang 1995 cTan etal. 1981 dDeffense 1995. NA = not available. 

Other physical characteristics such as refractive index and apparent density of the oil are as given in Table 3.7. 

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