Determination of melting point of vegetable oils and fats by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique

Melting point of fats is used to characterize oils and fats and is related to their physical properties, such as hardness and thermal behaviour. The present work shows the utilization of DSC technique on the determination of melting point of fats. In a comparison with softening point (AOCS method Cc 3-25), DSC values were higher than those obtained by AOCS method. It has occurred due to the fact that values obtained by DSC technique were taken when the fat had melted completely. DSC was also useful for determining melting point of liquid oils, such as soybean and cottonseed ones.