Recovery of fructose laurate produced through enzymatic esterification

A process for the recovery of fructose monolaurate, produced through enzyma tic esterification, is presented. The key separation is the one between fru ctose monolaurate and the unreacted lauric acid, which is accomplished thro ugh liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) using mixtures of alcohol (methanol or e thanol), hexane and water. Calculations of a LLE column, which are based on experimental liquid-liquid equilibrium data measured in this work, suggest the feasibility of the proposed process. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.