Furan formation in some vegetable oils during heat treatments

Furan formations were monitored in commercially refined sunflower, soybean and olive oils during heat treatments at 170, 180 and 190 °C for 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h. The lowest furan concentrations were detected in sunflower oil at all temperatures, while soybean oil generated the highest furan concentration at 190 °C at the end of 8th hour. Furan contents were higher in olive oil at 170 and 180 °C, which might be due to its high diglyceride content. Furan formation linearly increased with time. Zero-order kinetic equations were used to determine kinetic parameters. Temperature was found effective on the furan formation because increases in reaction rate constants were observed by increasing the temperature. Using Arrhenius equation, activation energies of sunflower, soybean and olive oils were calculated as 45.08, 100.24 and 22.41 J/mol, respectively.