Selective transesterification of stanols in mixtures comprising sterols and stanols

Abstract

The present invention is related to a process for selectively transesterifying stanols in mixtures comprising sterols and stanols, and a process for separating sterols from said mixtures. The process of selective transesterification comprises the forming of a reacting mixture by contacting a selective lipase with a reactant mixture comprising sterols and stanols and an ester selected from the group consisting of esters of an organic acid with a short chain aliphatic alcohol. The transetrifying is carried out agitated reactors at pressures below atmospheric pressure and temperatures from 30 to 90° C. The process for separating a fraction comprising sterols from a mixture comprising sterols and stanols comprises the steps: The reaction is carried out in agitated reactors at pressures below atmospheric pressure and temperatures from 30 to 90° C. Recovering from the reacted mixture of a fraction comprising sterols comprise one or more distillation steps at reduced pressure or one or more distillation and crystallization steps.