Monitoring Lipase-Catalyzed Interesterification for Bulky Fat Modification with FT-IR/NIR Spectroscopy

This work demonstrates the application of FT-IR and FT-NIR spectroscopy to monitor the enzymatic interesterification process for bulky fat modification. The reaction was conducted between palm stearin and coconut oil (70:30, w/w) with the catalysis of Lipozyme TL IM at 70 degrees C in a batch reactor. The blends and interesterified fat samples in liquid form were measured by attenuated total reflectance based FT-IR (spectra region, 1516-781 cm(-1)) and transmission mode based FT-NIR (spectra region, 5369-4752 cm(-1)) with the temperature of both controlled at 70 degrees C. The samples in solid form were also measured by reflectance-based FT-NIR (spectra regions, 7037-6039 and 5995-5612 cm(-1)) at room temperature. Calibrations of FT-IR and FT-NIR for conversion degrees (evaluated by triglyceride profile), solid fat contents (SFC), and dropping points of interesterified products were carried out by using partial least-squares regression. High correlations (r > 0.96) were obtained from cross validations of the data estimated by FT-IR, FT-NIR, and the above-mentioned conventional analytical methods, except for correlations (r = 0.90-0.95) between FT-IR and SFC profiles. Overall, FT-NIR spectroscopy coupled with transmission mode measured at 70 degrees C had the highest correlations, which also had the closest conditions to the sampled products in the process, indicating a great potential for implementation as an on-line control for monitoring the enzymatic interesterification process.