Crystallization and melting behavior of phytosterol esters and their phase behavior in blends with palm oil

Phytosterols are plant based compounds with chemical structures similar to cholesterol and have  nutritionally beneficial properties, more specifically a blood cholesterol lowering effect. In order to increase their lipid solubility and thus facilitate their incorporation into fat containing food products, phytosterols are esterified with fatty acids (FA) to obtain phytosterol esters. Addition of PE to fat (containing products) will undoubtedly influence the crystallization properties and in food industry this will lead to problems occurring during the production process or with the macroscopic properties of the end product. But despite this, Scientific publications on the influence of PE addition on the crystallization of edible fats are very much lacking and industrial practice relies on a trial and error approach.

The objective of this doctoral research is thus to thoroughly study the influence of the addition of phytosterol esters on the crystallization behavior of edible fats both at the level of the equilibrium and at the level of the crystallization kinetics. The influence on primary crystallization, polymorphism, network formation and obtained macroscopic properties will be investigated. More specifically, the effect of phytosterol ester concentration, type of fatty acid esterified, type of phytosterol, type of ‘host’ fat to which the phytosterol esters are added and degree of undercooling of the host fat will be investigated.