Date of Award:
12-2025
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences
Committee Chair(s)
Silvana Martini
Committee
Silvana Martini
Committee
Luis J. Bastarrachea
Committee
Robert Ward
Abstract
Crystallization behavior of three edible fats: interesterified soybean oil (IESBO), interesterified palm olein (IEPO), and fully hydrogenated palm kernel oil (FHPKO) were explored to understand how this process is affected by different factors. The study focused on how the chemical composition of these fats affects their behavior like how much time they require to be crystallized at a certain temperature. By using different scientific methods, how quickly each fat began to crystallize and how much energy it took to start the process was measured. Among the methods used, Gompertz equation, a mathematical model, gave the most consistent and reliable results to differentiate among the fats in respect to different variables.
Different properties of fats including solid fat content, crystal morphology, polymorphism, melting behavior, hardness, viscosity, surface tension, density and heat capacity were also measured at high and low temperatures. For instance, IEPO at high temperature showed significantly larger crystals than all other samples and FHPKO was the hardest and had the highest melting enthalpy at low temperature due to its higher concentration of saturated fatty acid. Also, some properties of fats such as density and heat capacity did not change with the change of temperature. These findings can be helpful to better understand how different fats work at different temperatures and can be used to improve the design and production of different fat-based food products such as margarine, chocolate etc., making them more appealing and stable for consumers.
Recommended Citation
Anjum, Nabila, "Impact of Thermodynamic Factors and Intrinsic Properties on Crystallization Behavior and Physical Properties of Edible Fats" (2025). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present. 635.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd2023/635
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