Food grade microemulsion systems: Canola oil/lecithin:n-propanol/water. (1st March 2016) - Abbasi, Soleiman
Highlights: Lecithin: n -propanol mixtures can form microemulsions with water and canola oil. Temperature significantly increased the one-phase microemulsion area. pH had no significant effect on water/lecithin: n -propanol/canola oil systems. NaCl and CaCl2 decreased O/W and bicontinuous microemulsion area. This system could potentially be used as a premix for edible oil extraction. Abstract: In this study, the capability of a natural surfactant, lecithin, and the influence of ionic strength, pH, and temperature on some properties of a food grade microemulsion system were evaluated. For this purpose, the pseudoternary phase diagrams of canola oil/lecithin: n -propanol/water microemulsions in the presence of different salts (NaCl and CaCl2 ), ionic strengths, pHs, and temperatures were constructed. Our findings showed that the presence of salts slightly increased the W/O areas on the phase diagrams, whereas pH variation was not effective on the microemulsion formation. The expansion of microemulsion areas with temperature indicated the greater triglycerides solubilization capacity of lecithin based microemulsions at higher temperatures. These findings revealed the efficiency of lecithin-based microemulsion system for solubilization of triglycerides which can potentially be used for extraction of edible vegetable oils particularly canola oil.