Production of low trans-fatty acid margarine by Plasma Hydrogenation

Abstract

Margarine is a widely used raw material in the food and bakery industry. A successfully novel technique for refined palm olein hydrogenation to free trans-fat margarine production using non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma has been demonstrated. The new green method does not use chemicals as a catalyst, thus making it extremely environmentally friendly. This also performs well at room temperature and atmospheric pressure making it easier to manage. Two-electrode arrangement patterns were studied in this research: parallel plate and needle-in-tube. The results showed that using the parallel plate electrodes, 1.44% trans-fat (was detected) and a trans-fat generation rate of only 0.07% per percent reduction in iodine, 6.12 times lower than conventional margarine production methods use chemicals as a catalyst, operated at high temperature and pressure. At the same time, the needle-in-tube electrode arrangement did not detect trans-fats and had a higher reaction rate than the parallel-plate configuration. Zero trans-fat is the main objective of this research study. Thus, the needle-in-tube was more suitable for margarine production by hydrogenation than the parallel-plate configuration. Production estimates were made considering only the cost of raw materials, electricity and H2 gas. The parallel-plate DBD plasma costed 1.56 USD per liter, which was 8.25 times cheaper than the needle-in-tube DBD plasma, which costed 12.87 USD per liter. Consequently, the majority of the cost was electricity. This method was compared to commercially available margarine in Thailand priced at 2.40 – 4.50 USD per liter, demonstrating cost effectiveness. Moreover, the production efficiency can be improved by designing a high voltage, high-frequency power supply with lower power consumption.