Impact of Carbon Dioxide Nanobubbles on Crystallising Properties of Palm Oil.

The influences of CO2 incorporated in gas nanobubbles (NBs) on palm oil crystallisation and physical characteristics were investigated. Initially, CO2 NB-treated palm oil had a significantly (p ≤ 0.05) larger amount of dissolved CO2 (~ 1200–1700 ppm). The crystal morphology evaluation showed smaller size and higher number of palm oil crystals by the presence of CO2 NBs. Additionally, the attendance of NBs caused a slight increment in crystallising enthalpy magnitude and a significant reduction in final end-set melting temperatures (by 4.5–6 °C) of palm oil stored at 4 °C. There was also a significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in melting enthalpies by 1.3–3.5 J/g and 6.5–9 J/g of the NB-treated samples under 48-h storage conditions at 23 °C and 4 °C, respectively. Furthermore, the CO2 NB-treated palm oil was characterised by both lighter colour and lower hardness. Research findings demonstrate that the introduction of food-grade gas NBs can be a sustainable and eco-friendly method to tailor thermal behaviour and physical properties of palm oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]