System and method for extracting vitamin E from fatty acid distillates

摘要

Various systems and processes for extracting Vitamin E from a fatty acid distillate (FAD) having a Vitamin E component are disclosed. The process includes preparing a mixture of a FAD and a non-polar solvent (e.g., hexane). The mixture can be sequentially cooled to a series of pre-determined temperatures. As the mixture is sequentially cooled to each of the pre-determined temperatures within the series of pre-determined temperatures, non-Vitamin E components present in the FAD can form solid fractions within the mixture at the various pre-determined temperature stages. The process further includes removing the solid fractions from the mixture at each of the pre-determined temperature stages. After completion of a number of cooling and separation stages or cycles, the non-polar solvent can be removed from the remaining mixture to recover a Vitamin E extract.