Fractionation of butterfat by melt crystallization is a commercial process in many countries for making butter fractions with varying melting, textural and flavor properties for use as food ingredients. However, the crystallization phenomena in this complex system are poorly understood and difficult to optimize and control. In this study, the crystallization kinetics of anhydrous butterfat were determined by cooling a melted sample to the final crystallization temperature in either a lab-scale (2 L) batch crystallizer or a pilot-scale (20 L) crystallization vessel. The butterfat was cooled sequentially from an initial temperature of 60-degrees-C to final temperatures of 30, 20 and 15-degrees-C at a constant cooling rate. Crystals formed at each temperature were separated by vacuum filtration, with the liquid cooled to the next crystallization temperature. Nucleation rates were determined by counting the number of crystals in a given volume of suspension during the course of crystallization. Crystal growth rates were obtained from image analysis of optical photomicrographs. Changes in viscosity, turbidity and mass of crystals also were determined. Effects of impeller velocity (75, 100 or 125 rpm) on the crystallization kinetics were determined. Nucleation and mass deposition rates increased while crystallization lag times decreased with increasing agitator velocities. Growth rates increased with agitator rpm at 20 and 15-degrees-C, but decreased with agitator rpm at 30-degrees-C, indicating different growth mechanisms. At 20 and 30-degrees-C, aggregation was the primary mechanism of crystal growth, whereas little aggregation was observed at 15-degrees-C. Crystallization at the larger scale, 20 L, showed only minor differences.
