UREA COMPLEXATION FOR THE RAPID, ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE FRACTIONATION OF FATTY-ACIDS FROM SEED OIL

Urea complex formation is a classic method for fractionating fatty aci ds from seed and other oils. The method's simplicity, ease of scaling, and ecological friendliness suggest its reevaluation in regard to mod ern fractionation challenges. In keeping with this, a simple, quick, i nexpensive, robust, and environmentally friendly procedure was develop ed for reducing the saturated free fatty acid (FFA) content of saponif ied low-erucic acid rapeseed oil (LEAR). The process involves formatio n of a homogeneous 65 degrees C solution of FFA and urea in 95% ethano l (5% water), followed by cooling of the resultant urea complex slurry to room temperature. The urea complex and liquid phases are separated by gravity filtration, and the urea isolated in each phase is removed by extraction with 60 degrees C water. Saturated LEAR oil FFA prefere ntially formed urea complexes easily separated from the noncomplexed, mostly unsaturated FFA, the main product of interest. The effects of s ingle- vs, double-stage fractionations and several other variables (co mponent mass or volume ratios, temperature, ethanol solvent to water r atio) were preliminarily evaluated. Results demonstrated the robustnes s, reproducibility, and simplicity of the method.