Industrial fat splitting

Summary The reaction of fat splitting, whatever the process employed, obeys the following general rules: The greater the proportion of free fatty acids in the fat to be hydrolyzed, the shorter will be the induction period. The higher the reaction temperature and the more advanced the process, the less necessary the stirring. The rate of hydrolysis is augmented by the raising of temperature and by the use of catalysts, proportionally to its quantity. The most active catalysts are those which most increase the solubility of water in the oil phase and which at the same time most activate that water, raising its degree of dissociation. The degree of hydrolysis at equilibrium, whatever the fat to be split, depends exclusively on the glycerol concentration of the sweet waters.