Random enzymatic interesterification of Palm Olein for future industrial applications

This thesis has been focused on random enzymatic interesterification of Palm Olein, in order to obtain a material equivalent to chemically interesterified one, operating in milder conditions of temperature, and at sustainable price. The research project has been started with the study of state of art of enzymatic interesterification and properties of enzymes; preliminary tests (conducted in laboratory batch reactor) have been allowed the evaluation of the features of random enzymatically interesterified Palm Olein, the study of the kinetics of the reaction and the choice of operating parameters for subsequent tests in continuous laboratory reactor. Last step of the research activity, in order to apply in future the process on industrial scale, was the transfer to bench scale to pilot scale. In order to do this, a design of pilot plant has been realized, scaling up the bench continuous reactor.