Enzymatic modification of flax seed oil and palm based blends in the preparation of table margarine formulation
Evaluation of ternary mixtures of palm stearin (PS), palm kernel oil (PKO) and flax seed oil (FS) for their suitability as base stocks for table margarine formulations were conducted. Transesterification of the oil blends was catalysed by Lipozyme IM lipase (Novozymes, Denmark) at 45 °C, 200 rpm for 6 h. The physical and chemical properties of the transesterified oil were evaluated by slip melting point (SMP), solid fat content (SFC), differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In comparison with non-transesterified products, the transesterified products reduced the SMP values between 12% and 20%. All transesterified blends gave no residual SFC at 35 °C. Transesterified PS:PKO:FS blend at 54:36:10 ratio had 32% SFC at 10 °C indicating that the products had good spreadability at refrigeration temperature. DSC and HPLC analysis showed that transesterification of PS:PKO:FS with Lipozyme IM lipase had significantly reduced the high 
melting glycerides of the blends. This is reflected in the SMP values and SFC profiles of transesterified blends.
Effect of enzymatic interesterification on the melting point of tallow-rapeseed oil (LEAR) mixture
To reduce the melting point of a tallow-rapeseed oil mixture, the triglyceride composition of the mixture was altered by enzymatic interesterification in a solvent-free system. The interesterification and hydrolysis were followed by melting point profiles and by free fatty acid determinations. The degree of hydrolysis was linearly related to the initial water content of the reaction mixture. The rate of the interesterification reaction was influenced by the amount of enzyme but not much by temperature between 50 and 70°C. The melting point reduction achieved by interesterification depended on the mass fractions of the substrates: the lower the mass fraction of tallow, the larger the reduction of the melting point.
Novel method for the determination of the methoxyl content in lignin by headspace gas chromatography.
The paper reports on a headspace gas chromatographic (HS-GC) method for the determination of methoxyl in lignin. The method involves the quantitive cleavage of methoxyl with hydroiodic acid (HI) to form methyl iodide in a closed headspace sample vial at 130 °C for 30 min. After HI has been added, the sample is neutralized by injecting a sodium hydroxide solution; the methyl iodide in the vial was determined by HS-GC using a flame ionization detector. The results showed that the method has an excellent measurement precision (RSD < 0.69%) and accuracy (RSD < 3.5%) for the quantification of methoxyl content in lignin. The present method is simple and accurate and can be used for the efficient determination of methoxy1 content in lignin and related materials.