| Abstract
| - The final contents of total and individual trans-fatty acids of sunflower oil, produced during the deacidificationstep of physical refining were obtained using a computational simulation program that considered cis−transisomerization reaction features for oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids attached to the glycerol part oftriacylglycerols. The impact of process variables, such as temperature and liquid flow rate, and of equipmentconfiguration parameters, such as liquid height, diameter, and number of stages, that influence the retentiontime of the oil in the equipment was analyzed using the response-surface methodology (RSM). Thecomputational simulation and the RSM results were used in two different optimization methods, aiming tominimize final levels of total and individual trans-fatty acids (trans-FA), while keeping neutral oil loss andfinal oil acidity at low values. The main goal of this work was to indicate that computational simulation,based on a careful modeling of the reaction system, combined with optimization could be an important toolfor indicating better processing conditions in industrial physical refining plants of vegetable oils, concerningtrans-FA formation.
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