A spectrophotometric method for determination of solid fat content of palm oil

Abstract

AbstractA new spectrophotometric method has been developed for determining solid fat content (SFC) of crude palm oil based on the different solubilities of the inherent carotenes in the solid and liquid components of the oil. The sample to be analyzed is tempered according to usual procedures and then either filtered or centrifuged to liberate the liquid component (olein). The carotene contents of the palm oil and olein as determined by spectrophotometry are then fitted into an equation to obtain the SFC. The carotenes are apparently insoluble in the solid component of palm oil. The standard deviation of analysis on palm oil samples at 25 C is 0.5% which is almost comparable to that of the wide‐line NMR technique. The correlation coefficient of SFC measured by these 2 methods over a range of temperatures is 0.99. The new method can also be used to determine SFC of hybrid palm oil (Elaeis guineensis ×E. oleifera) and different palm oil‐stearin blends.