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Stability Study Metals Analysis in Refined Oils: A Key to Shelf Life and Stability Problem: Hydrogenation is commonly employed in industrial refining operations as a means of increasing the degree of saturation in vegetable oils. The reaction is carried out under pressure in the presence of hydrogen and heavy metal catalysts. There can be contamination of the refined oil with the catalyst. How can this be measured? Background: Most vegetable oils have a relatively high degree of unsaturation. Oils with a high degree of unsaturation tend to be unstable. They also do not have the functional properties needed for many products. For example, shortenings for baking applications need to be "hardened" to provide the physical properties needed in a good baked product. To harden fats and increase their oxidative stability, hydrogenation is used. By manipulating the hydrogenation process, refined fats and oils may be produced with varying degrees of hydrogenation or hardness, and, therefore, different applications. Hydrogenated oils have recently come under fire from different quarters. The process adds hydrogens to the double bonds, forming "trans" isomers. The natural saturated acids are in the "cis" form. The allegations are that the "trans" isomers pose a health threat. Of greater concern to some health professionals is the fact that hydrogenation is carried out in the presence of heavy metals, which could remain in the refined oil. The Use of Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Analysis to Monitor the Efficacy of Heavy Metal Removal in Refined, Hydrogenated Oils: Heavy metal contamination of hydrogenated oils occurs occasionally. The level of contamination is quite low, sufficiently low that it may not be detected by traditional methods such as NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) or wet chemistry methods. ICP has extremely good sensitivity in the parts-per-billion range for many metals. This is the level of contamination that may occur in refined oils. Libra Laboratories has ICP capabilities and can monitor the efficiency of metals removal for oil refiners. Benefits of Removing Metals from Refined Oils: Using ICP to monitor metals levels in oils has several benefits. First, it allows you to understand the efficiency of your refining operation, that is, are you contaminating the oil in any way. Other benefits include the elimination of possible health concerns associated with heavy metals and increasing both shelf and functional oil life. Recent studies have shown that even low levels of metals can adversely affect frying oil life. Buyers of refined oils will prefer a product with superior performance and oil life, so that the opportunity for increased market share can be a significant benefit of proper metals control.
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