Raisio Nutrition Ltd

Raisio Benecol Oy

Raisio Benecol Ltd.

Jari Ekblom

Ingmar Wester

Leena Koponen

Päivi Kuusisto

Antti Hamunen

Ritva Lahtinen

Hendrik Luttikhedde

Juha Orte

Timo Suominen

Rami Hartonen

Marko Hirvijärvi

Juha Holma

Ville Nieminen

Sami Kaatrasalo

Jouni Niemela

Paivi Kuusisto

Jouni NiemelÄ

Leena Frilander-Poikonen

The invention relates to a process for recovering sterols and a fraction rich in fatty acids and resin acids from tall oil pitch, said process comprising a) saponifying the tall oil pitch with an alkali to hydrolyse esters included in the pitch to free alcohols and organic acids in salt form, b) acidulating the saponified pitch with a mineral acid to convert the organic acids in salt form into free organic acids and to form an organic phase and an aqueous phase; wherein mineral acid is provided in an amount to produce an aqueous phase with a pH value of at most 3.8, c) separating the aqueous phase with a pH value of at most 3.8 from the organic phase, d) evaporation fractionating the organic phase in a thin film evaporator to obtain a distillate rich in fatty acids and resin acids and a bottom fraction rich in sterols, e) evaporation fractionating the bottom fraction to obtain a distillate rich in sterols, and f) subjecting the sterols in the sterol-rich distillate to crystallisation purification, wherein the process excludes a step of adding alkali between step c) and step d).

Process for isolation of sterols and a fraction rich in fatty acids and resin acids

The invention relates to a capsule consisting of a shell and a filling, which contains plant sterol ester and/or plant stanol ester and emulsifier. The capsule is suitable for lowering serum LDL cholesterol level.

Cholesterol lowering capsules

The invention relates to an effective process for producing plant stanol by hydrogenating plant sterol in an organic solvent at a hydrogen pressure of 1-200 bar in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst.

Hydrogenation process

This invention relates to phytosterols and phytostanols, in particular to fatty acid esters of phytosterols and phytostanols with a specified fatty acid composition. The invention further relates to methods for preparation of the phytosterol and phytostanol esters and their uses.

Phytosterol compositions

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of stanol esters by hydrogenating a sterol blend in a hydrogenation solvent and at an elevated temperature in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst, by removing the hydrogenation catalyst from the obtained hot reaction solution, by transesterifying the intermediate stanol blend with a fatty acid methyl ester at an elevated temperature and in the presence of a transesterification catalyst, and by finally purifying the stanol ester blend thus obtained. According to the invention, the intermediate stanol blend is neither crystallized nor removed from the reaction solution but the hydrogenation solvent is replaced therein at least in part by a transesterification reagent. Alternatively, the hydrogenation solvent may also be used as the transesterification solvent, and preferably also as the transesterification reagent.

Process for the preparation of stanol esters

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Raisio, Finland

Jari Ekblom