Molecular distillation: rigorous modeling and simulation for recovering vitamin E from vegetal oils

In this work, important results from simulations are presented, showing the potentiality of the molecular distillation process for recovering vitamin E from vegetal oils. Two types of molecular distillators are considered: falling film and centrifugal. The results emphasize the degree of recovery and factors that influence substantially the performance of the molecular distillators, such as feed flow rate, residence time, and process temperature. Moreover, they show that each type of molecular distillator enables one to operate under specific residence time and temperature. Therefore, a careful analysis must be made in order to determine the best equipment and operating conditions for obtaining products with high quality and concentration, and reduced problems of material thermal decomposition. Vitamin E (tocopherols) from vegetal oils, more specifically, from the deodorizer distillate of soya oil, was the studied case.