Correlation of fatty acid composition of virgin olive oil with thermal and physical properties

Physical properties (dynamic viscosity and density) of virgin olive oil (VOO) from fourteen olive varieties were studied as a function of their fatty acid (FA) compositions and temperature. Moreover, for these same VOOs, were evaluated the thermal properties by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC): cooling, heating, and oxidation profiles. The composition of VOO analyzed corresponded to the normal range for these varieties. Also, for all VOOs, the temperature effect on oil density decreased linearly as a temperature increased, achieved a good correlation. Arrhenius model describes the effect of temperature on viscosity showing a Newtonian behavior. Correlations between temperature of the major peak of crystallization phase (P-c) and their content in oleic and linoleic FAs were found. In addition, although a not very good correlation was observed between FA composition and viscosity, it was observed that the viscosity tends to increase with the amount of oleic acid. Practical applications: Knowledge of thermal and physical properties of the virgin olive oils (VOOs) is essential to improve some aspects of the extraction process in olive oil mill. Therefore, the information in this work is important for many applications such as equipment design (settling and storage tanks, centrifuges, pumps, etc.).