Colorimetric determination of total tocopherols in palm oil, olein and stearin

Abstract

AbstractBy using a preliminary heat‐bleach at 250 C the Emmerie‐Engel method has been adapted for the determination of total tocopherols (including tocotrienols) in crude as well as refined palm oil, olein and stearin. Total tocopherol contents found were: Crude palm oil, 794 ppm (n=10); RBD palm oil, 563 ppm (n=13); RBD palm olein, 643 ppm (n=40); RBD palm stearin, 261 ppm (n=19), where n is the number of samples analyzed. During the detergent fractionation no tocopherols were lost, but the tocopherols were concentrated in the olein fraction.The fate of the tocopherols during degumming, bleaching and steam refining/deodorizing of Crude palm olein containing 978 ppm total tocopherol was studied. Over the whole refining process only 8% of the tocopherols were lost, 62% of the original tocopherols were retained in the RBD palm olein, while the remaining 30% were concentrated in the fatty acid distillate which contained 7,040 ppm tocopherol.