Enzymatic Synthesis of Micronutrients Rich Diacylglycerol from Rice Bran Oil Fatty Acid Distillate

Diacylglycerol (DAG) rich products with micronutrients like sterols, tocopherols and squalene is prepared from cheap raw material like rice bran oil fatty acid distillate (RBOFAD). RBOFAD is an important byproduct of vegetable oil refining industries in the physical refining process. DAG containing significant amount of unsaponifiable matters like sterols, tocopherols and hydrocarbons (mainly squalene) may certainly be considered as novel functional food ingredients. In the present study, free fatty acids present in the RBOFAD were esterified with glycerol of varying amount (FAD Glycerol 21-1.5) for 8 h using non-specific enzyme NS 40013 (Candida antartica). After bio esterification, the product mixture was purified by molecular distillation to remove FFA and undesirable components. The final DAG (72.86 %) rich products containing sterol, tocopherol and squalene can be utilized in various functional food formulations. This is an extension of earlier work where present author made neutral glycerides from RBOFAD containing 53.8 % DAG only.