Thermal Degradation of Vegetable Oils

Vegetable oils provide lipids and nutrition and provide foods with a desirable flavor, color, and crispy texture when used to prepare fried foods. However, the oil quality is degraded at elevated temperatures, and thus must be examined frequently because of the damage to human health. In this study, sunflower, soybean, olive, and canola oils were examined, and their properties were measured periodically at different elevated temperatures. The unsaturated triglyceride in oils reacted with the environmental oxygen or water vapor significantly changes in optical absorbance, viscosity, electrical impedance, and acid value. We used defect kinetics to analyze the evolution of these oil properties at elevated temperatures. The optical absorbance, viscosity, and electrical impedance follow the second-order, first-order, and zeroth-order kinetics, respectively. The rate constants of the above kinetics satisfy the Arrhenius equation. Olive oil has the lowest rate of color center and dynamic viscosity among the four oils, with the smallest pre-exponential factor and the largest activation energy, respectively. The rate constants of acid reaction also satisfy the Arrhenius equation. The activation energies of the polar compound and acid reaction are almost the same, respectively, implying that the rate constant is controlled by a pre-exponential factor if four oils are compared. Olive oil has the largest rate constant of acid reaction among the four oils, with the lowest pre-exponential factor.