CHARACTERIZATION OF WAX SEDIMENTS IN REFINED CANOLA OILS

Turbidity components in refined canola oils were collected by filtration at 4 and 20-degrees-C. Major components (thin-layer chromatography) at both temperatures were wax esters (WE), hydrocarbons (HC) and triacylglycerols (TG) while free fatty acids (FFA) and fatty alcohols (FAL) were found in minor amounts at 4-degrees-C. WE had carbon numbers of 40 to 56 (made up of combinations of C16 to C30 alcohols and C16 to C28 fatty acids). HC were mostly C29 and C31 with lesser amounts of C24, C28 and C32. TG, compared to the corresponding liquid oil, still contained C18:1 as the major component, but had less C18:2 and particularly less C18:3 and at least two times higher levels of saturated fatty acids. The FFA were mainly long-chain C22:0, C24:0 and C20:0 (in order of amount). FAL were mainly long-chain C26:0, C28:0 and C30:0 but ranged from C16:0 to C32:0.