Monitoring of thermal behavior and decomposition products of soybean oil

The thermal degradation and corresponding decomposition products of fresh and heat-treated soybean oil were investigated by synchronous thermal analyzer combined with Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and quadrupole mass spectrometry (STA–FTIR–QMS). Two longtime heat-treated soybean oil samples were aforehand prepared by consistently heating the fresh soybean oil for 50 and 100 h, respectively. N₂ and simulative air (N₂/O₂ = 4:1, volume) were used as the thermal reaction gas atmosphere. The results showed that one stage of mass loss appeared in analysis of the all oil samples under N₂ atmosphere condition and longtime heat pre-treatment had no effect on the thermal behavior of the soybean oil under N₂ atmosphere condition. However, four stages occurred in analysis of both untreated and heat-treated oil samples under the simulative air atmosphere condition. Longtime heat pre-treatment influenced the thermal behavior of the soybean oil in certain extent, which was reflected in the different mass loss values of the four stages. According to the infrared absorption profiles and MS spectra of the released compounds in vapor phase, H₂O, CO, CO₂, hydrocarbons (such as CH₄), and hydroxyl, carbonyl, and carboxyl-contained compounds have been confirmed. Therefore, STA–FTIR–QMS can be suggested as a promising technique for investigating of thermal degradation and monitoring the decomposition products of the evolving substances in edible oils.