Fat Hydrolysis, Membrane Operations of

Lipids that are solid at room temperature are termed fats. In nature, most fats are triglycerides – consisting of a glycerol backbone, to which three individual fatty acid moieties are attached. The variety of fats in nature and their diversity in terms of physicochemical properties come from the number of combinations of the hundreds of existing fatty acid residues – which, due to their underlying metabolic synthesis pathway, are characterized by an even number of carbon atoms.

In view of their insolubility and the relevance to water-based life, fats often appear stabilized via emulsification in aqueous media; this is notable in the case of milk fat, with globules surrounded by a membrane containing proteins and phospholipids. Said native globules range in size from less than 1 μm to over 10 μm. The uneven size distribution provides larger globules with a tendency to float: under static conditions, that buoyancy effect leads to creaming at the top of the container, but the process may...