Solid lipid microparticles of hardfats produced by spray cooling as promising crystallization modifiers in lipid systems

Spray cooling (SC) is a simple and quick technique without the use of solvents that can be applied for the production of microparticles of different materials with diameters in the micrometer range. In this work, the SC technique was evaluated to obtain solid lipid microparticles (SLMs) of fully hydrogenated vegetable oils (hardfats) of soybean, cottonseed, palm, and crambe. SLMs were produced using a laboratory‐scale SC, varying the temperature of the hardfat (70–85°C), SLM solidification temperature (0 and 24°C), nozzle diameter (0.7–1 mm), and air pressure (1.25–1.75 kgf/cm²). The melting point and preferential polymorphisms of the soybean, cottonseed, palm, and crambe hardfats were, respectively, 69.5°C (β), 63.2°C (β′), 60.4°C (β′), and 73.8°C (β′ + β). The analysis of the morphology and particle size distribution showed that all SLMs had a spherical shape, with mean diameters ranging from 60.15 to 2013.99 µm (soybean), 101.25 to 302.85 µm (cottonseed), 56.12 to 2514.32 µm (palm), and 66.10 to 877.93 µm (crambe), depending on the process conditions. It was verified that the atomization process changed the polymorphic habit of all hardfats to the α form. These results indicate that the SC technique may be applied to obtain SLMs of hardfats. Practical applications: Solid lipid microparticles, which are composed of fully hydrogenated vegetable oils and obtained by the spray cooling technique, have the potential to modulate or optimize conventional fat crystallization processes for several different industrial purposes. Solid lipid microparticles of fully hydrogenated crambe oil, obtained by spray cooling technique, under the conditions of Test 9 (T = 80°C; P = 1.50 kgf/cm2; A = 0.7 mm).