Características químicas e térmicas de frações do óleo de amêndoa de jerivá

Abstract

The fruits of Jerivá palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) have high lipid content and potential to be used as a source of oil for preparation of food. This fruit and kernels (almonds) are already normally consumed by the population and can be used for the production of flour, cereal bar and cookies. The lipid fraction of this fruit presents a considerable content of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, besides phenolic compounds and tocopherols, which act as antioxidants. This work, dry and solvent fractionation processes were explored to obtain fractions derived from jerivá kernel oil. Three different experimental conditions for fractionation resulted in 6 different fractions. In dry fractionation, the oil was left in a BOD for 24 hours at the temperature of 14.5 °C, while in solvent fractionation the oil was mixed with acetone and allowed to crystallize at 6.5 °C for 5 hours with agitation and for 7 hours without agitation. The fractions were compared to the oil for thermal and chemical parameters. Stearins contained slightly higher contents of saturated fatty acids relative to oil and oleins. The crystallization and melting onset temperatures and the crystallization and melting peak temperatures of the stearins were higher than oil and the olein. The solid fat content values of the stearins were higher than those of the oil in the range of 10 to 35 °C, while those of the oleins were smaller, all fractions were melted at 40°C. The experimental phase diagrams show that the stearins remained solid to temperatures higher (16 °C - 18 °C) than the oleins (14 °C - 15 °C). And all the stearins presented better oxidative stabilities than the oleins. Therefore, the fractionation of the jerivá kernel oil can be promising to produce fractions to be used in specific alimentary applications.