The use of immobilized lipase to modify the physical properties of cottonseed oil.

Abstract: Cottonseed oil has been an oil produced and utilized in the United States since the 1800's.  Cottonseed oil has been used in the industry for a variety of food and non-food uses over the years, and it was study of cottonseed oil that helped plant the seed for the creation of the American Oil Chemists' Society in 1920.   The original "Crisco" vegetable shortening utilized a 1903 patented process referred to as liquid-phase hydrogenation of fatty oils to introduce the first solid vegetable shortening on the U.S. market in 1911 by Proctor & Gamble.  RBD cottonseed oil, also referred to as cotton cooking oil, was once considered as the gold standard oil for the production of potato chips due to the stability in the fryer and the desired flavor attributes conveyed during the frying process.  Fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil is used to provide structure in shortenings, peanut butter and gum bases amongst other applications.  As the quest for non-palm and non-hydrogenated base oils has grown, the objective of the this work was to determine if exposure of cottonseed oil to an immobilized lipase in a fixed bed column would produce cottonseed oil with improved physical properties.  The results of this this work demonstrated that exposure of cottonseed oil to an immobilized lipase produced a cottonseed oil with improved crystallization and solid fat characteristics.  This paper will review the laboratory process used to produce a enzymatically intraesterified cottonseed oil, the physical characterization of the intraesterified cottonseed oil and potential uses in foods where solid fat functionality is needed.