Interesterification of Soybean Oil and Lard Blends Catalyzed by SBA-15-pr-NR3OH as a Heterogeneous Base Catalyst

A novel heterogeneous SBA-15-pr-NR3OH catalyst has been prepared by reactions of dimethyloctadecyl[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ammonium chloride with mesoporous SBA-15 materials. The solid base catalysts were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectra, thermogravimetric analysis, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, and elemental analysis techniques. By using the solid catalyst, an environmentally benign process for the interesterification of soybean oil and lard blends in a heterogeneous manner was developed. The interesterification was investigated regarding the slip melting point (SMP), iodine value (IV), triacylglycerols (TAGs) profile, fatty acid composition at the sn-2 position in TAGs, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The obtained results revealed that the solid base catalyst was capable of catalyzing TAG interesterification. It was shown that interesterification significantly modified the physicochemical properties of the oil and fat blends. The interesterified products had lower SMPs than their corresponding physical blends. These changes in melting behaviors were mostly due to the alterations in TAG compositions. The DSC cooling and melting thermograms showed an obvious change in thermal properties after the interesterification reaction.