36-9

P. HARIYADI¹, S. Budijanto, and N. E. Kitu. (1) Dept of Food Technology and Human Nutrition, Bogor Agriclutural University, PO Box 220, BOGOR, Indonesia

Refining process of coconut oil (CO) from crude coconut oil (CCO) using physical process results in about 4% of coconut fatty acid distillates (CFAD). Data of Indonesian Statistics (1997) indicated that the annual production of CO in Indonesia was 699 500 ton. Consequently, estimated production of CFAD was 29 146 ton annually. Currently, the use of CFAD is limited for detergent and paint industry. As a source of fatty acid (FA), CFAD can be converted to mono- and diacylglycerol (M-DAG) by reacting it with glycerol in the presence of catalyst. Considering the high content of lauric acid in CFAD, M-DAG produced from this reaction configuration was expected to have special functionality.

Our objective was to explore the possibility of using CFAD for the production of M-DAG via lipase-catalyzed reaction.

We have developed the appropriate reaction system (glycerolysis and esterification) catalyzed by lipase for the production of M-DAG. Analysis of acylglycerol fraction was conducted using TLC method and FA analysis of CFAD was done using GC method.

FA concentration of CFAD was very high (81.99%), in which lauric (49,34%) and mirystic acids (21.76%) were the predominant ones. The average molecular weight of FA constituent of CFAD was estimated to be 220.6 gram/mole. Synthesis of M-DAG blends derived from CFAD in a batch configuration using Rhizomucor miehei lipase was achieved with yields of 26.4 - 45.87% within 4 hr of reaction.

Our results indicate that CFAD can be used as a potential raw material for the production of M-DAG blends. The optimum reaction mixture for producing M-DAG was defined as a glycerol: CFAD molar ration of 3.8:1, 5% (w/w) enzyme, at 50 C. Under these conditions, the mass proportions of reaction products were 79.8% (MAG), 13.6% (DAG), 0.4% (TAG) and 13.62% remaining FA within 4 hr of reaction.