ABSTRACT
In the industrial processing of oils and fats, the term fractionation without further qualification usually refers to the process of fractional crystallization. Fractionation may also be effected by other methods such as molecular distillation, solvent extraction, or cyclodextrin complexing. The crystallization step is usually crystallization of the melted, but crystallization of the fat dissolved in a solvent is also practiced industrially. These processes are commonly referred to as dry and wet fractionation. Multistage fractionation processes are used where the desired fraction is a middle-melting fraction or where improved purity of the fraction is required—greater than can be obtained in a single-stage fractionation. Palmkernel (PK) oil is fractionated in one step to concentrate the triglycerides containing medium-chain fatty acids (lauric and myristic) into a stearin fraction. Coconut oil can also be fractionated similarly, but the tonnages are very small in comparison with PK oil.
