Aplication Fat Extraction Food
Aplication Fat Extraction Food
Aplication Fat Extraction Food
No. 173/2014
Extraction Unit E-816 ECE:
Fat Determination in Food using Twisselmann Continuous Extraction
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1. Introduction
An effective procedure for fat determination in food according to 64 LFGB L 17.00-4 and ISO
1444:1996 is presented [1, 2]. The sample is hydrolyzed with the Hydrolysis Unit E-416. The
Twisselmann extraction is performed with the Extraction Unit E-816 ECE (Economic Continuous
Extraction).This allows the sample to be constantly kept in hot solvent vapor whilst efficiently
rinsed with freshly distilled solvent. The total fat content is determined gravimetrically after the
extract has been dried to a constant weight.
2. Equipment
The samples were purchased from LGC Standards GmbH (Wesel, Germany).
4. Procedure
The determination of fat includes the following steps:
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The sample weight has to be chosen according to the approximate fat content of the sample.
80-100 %: 0.7-1 g
20-50 % 1.5-3.5 g
<10 %: 7- 10 g
50-80 %: 1-1.5 g
10-20 % 3.5-7 g
Application Note 173/2014
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Fill the solvent directly into the beakers and place them on their corresponding heating plate.
Close the safety shield and lower the rack. Activate the occupied positions, open the cooling
water or switch on the connected chiller and start the extraction according to the parameters
listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Parameters for the extraction with the Extraction Unit E-816 ECE
Extraction step
Drying step
Solvent volume
70 mL
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4.3. Calculation
The results are calculated as percentage of the fat according to equation (1).
% Fat
% Fat
mTotal
mBeaker
mSample
(m Total - m Beaker )
100%
m Sample
(1)
5. Results
Determined fat contents for the certified reference materials are in line with the specified and
labelled values, independent of the solvent used. The relative standard deviations (rsd) are low,
i.e. < 2 % for all samples.
Depending on the type of solvent used, minor differences in the fat content are observed. This
can be explained as an effect of the solvent polarity which affects the mass transfer during the
extraction. With chloroform and diethyl ether being more polar than petroleum ether and
hexane slightly more fat is extracted. The complete findings are summarized in Tables 2 and
3.
Table 2: Maderia Cake LGC7107 (Specification 13.4 0.7 g/100 g)
Petroleum ether
Diethyl ether
Hexane
Chloroform
Sample 1
12.80
13.21
12.93
13.19
Sample 2
12.63
13.35
13.02
13.24
Sample 3
13.00
13.32
12.97
13.09
Sample 4
12.99
13.03
12.90
13.26
Sample 5
12.75
13.03
12.92
13.09
Sample 6
12.77
13.47
13.07
13.13
12.82
13.24
12.97
13.16
rsd [%]
1.13
1.36
0.51
0.56
Petroleum ether
Diethyl ether
Hexane
Chloroform
Sample 1
11.11
11.67
11.58
11.88
Sample 2
11.21
11.56
11.29
11.49
Sample 3
11.23
11.55
11.15
11.44
Sample 4
11.12
11.61
11.44
11.79
Sample 5
11.06
11.66
10.735
11.57
Sample 6
11.59
11.63
11.33
11.88
11.22
11.62
11.36
11.68
rsd [%]
1.70
0.42
1.42
1.70
This value is an outlier according to the statistical test of Dean-Dixon for outliers ( = 5 %).
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6. Conclusion
The determination of fat in different food products using the Hydrolysis Unit E-416 and the
Extraction Unit E-816 ECE provides reliable and reproducible results. These results correspond
well to the labelled values, with low relative standard deviations (rsd).
With the Extraction Unit E-816 ECE the time to results is significantly reduced by 75 %
compared to the use of classical glassware, and it offers an unattended automated process.
7. References
[1] 64 LFGB L 17.00-4:1982-05 Bestimmung des Gesamtfettgehaltes in Brot einschliesslich
Kleingebck aus Brotteigen
[2] ISO1444:1993 Meat and meat products Determination of fat content
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