Ultrasonic determination of fatty acids composition in palm oil

Abstract

Ultrasonic technique has been used in many applications including the food industry, biomedical application and materials evaluation. Ultrasonic propagation parameters, especially velocity has a rich source of information on the physical properties of the materials through which the ultrasonic waves are propagated. Palm oil is derived from the fleshy part of the mesocarp of the fruit of the palm species Elaeis guineesis. Like all other vegetable oils, palm oil is composed predominantly of triglycerides. Triglycerides are esters of glycerol and three fatty acids. Four major fatty acids in palm oil are linoleic, oleic, palmitic and stearic acid. In this study, a more rapid and easier ultrasonic method is developed to determine the fatty acids composition in palm oil. The ultrasonic system used in this study consists of a test cell, an ultrasonic pulse receiver, a digital storage oscilloscope, a temperature controlled cabinet and a personal computer. Three types of palm oil were determined their ultrasonic velocity. There are Crude Palm Oil, Crude Palm Olein and RBD Olein. The results also were compared with Gas Chromatography method. The method was performed according to the standard Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia test method. The results showed the linoleic acid velocity is highest and followed by oleic, stearic and palmitic acid. The differences might be of because in presence of carbon atom number and double bonds in their carbon chains.