Caracterização de óleos e gorduras vegetais amazônicas: utilização de modelo para predizer viscosidade

Abstract

The Amazon rainforest is rich in oilseed plant species, which have fruits that are attractive due to their economic potential and biological properties. Oils from oleaginous matrices have a unique composition with physicochemical and nutraceutical properties that attract attention as a source of fatty acids. The predictive model is based on the use of mathematical equations that are more comprehensive and less limited than simple linear or polynomial models, and are able to predict a certain property using one or more physicochemical parameters. Thus, this work aimed to use a predictive model to calculate the viscosity of Amazonian oils (açaí, bacaba, tucumã) and fats (cupuaçu, bacuri and tucumã). The samples were physicochemically characterized in terms of acidity index, density, oxidative stability, peroxide, melting point, iodine index, saponification index, fatty acid composition, triacylglycerol composition, solid fat content, atherogenicity index and heterogeneity. Two predictive models were used to obtain the viscosity values of oils and fats, the model using the profile of the mass fraction of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids and the model using the iodine and saponification index.The results showed that the oils (patauá, pracaxi, bacaba, açaí, tucumã) had high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, especially oleic acid, which has good thermal stability, while the fats (cupuaçu, bacuri and tucumã) are composed of mainly by saturated fatty acids. The oxidative stability showed that at a temperature of 110 °C, pracaxi oil and cupuaçu fat presented the highest values, while bacaba oil presented a lower value, this low stability value indicates that this sample is more conducive to oxidation. Pracaxi oil showed the highest value for the ratio between hypocholesterolemic and hypercholesterolemic fatty acids (HH), indicating that it is more nutritionally adequate. The studies to predict the regularity of Amazonian oils and fats proposed in this work may contribute to simplifying the evaluation of the physicochemical properties of important regional oleaginous raw materials on which there are no studies, but with growing industrial interest in different areas, in addition of the food area.