Preparation of concentrated polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) from soybean oil

H. Hasnisa and S. Jumat

Abstract

The study was aimed to prepare concentrated polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) from soybean oil by hydrolysis and urea complexation to obtain the maximum concentration of PUFA. Linoleic acid (LA) and α-linolenic acid (ALA) derived from chemically hydrolysed soybean oil were concentrated by urea complexation. The chemical hydrolysis was carried out in 1M ethanolic alkaline solution by refluxing at 60 ºC for 30 min. The production of LA and ALA from chemical hydrolysis were 53.4% and 6.4% respectively. Concentration of LA and ALA were affected by urea/fatty acid ratio, crystallisation temperature and time. After complexation of saturated and less unsaturated fatty acids, the maximum concentration of LA (84.0%) and ALA (15.3%) was obtained using an ethanolic solution with urea:fatty acid ratio (3:1) at 4 ºC for 24 h crystallisation. A combination of chemical hydrolysis and urea complexation is a promising method to obtain highly concentrated omega-3 and omega-6 PUFA from soybean oil.

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