Various separation methods such as solvent extraction, chemical treatment and molecular distillation were tested for the separation of tocopherols and sterols from soy oil scum- The end products of these methods were tocopherol concentrates and sterol crystals. In the solvent extraction, purity and yield of tocopherols were 21.2% and 28.3%, and those of sterols were 69.2% and 2.6%. In the chemical treatment, purity and yield of tocopherols were 11.8% and 76.4% and those of sterols were 85.1% and 34.3% respectively. In the molecular distillation, purity and yield of tocopherols were 45.0% and 68.0%, and those of sterols were 49.3% and 57.0% respectively. The end products from the methods were characterized by HPLC. Based on the results of this study, the molecular distillation method was found to be more efficient than any other method tested.
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