This master's thesis presents a study of the thermal stability of olive and peanut oil, obtained during heating under air and nitrogen atmosphere. Oils are mainly composed of triglycerides, esters of glycerol and three fatty acids. Physical and chemical properties of oil depend on the fatty acid composition. Thermal stability of the oils was studied with the help of thermogravimetry (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Measurements were carried out on simultaneous TGA–DSC instrument, which measures the mass of the sample and the heat flow at the same time. A comparison between TGA curves measured at different heating rates – 5 K/min, 10 K/min, 20 K/min and 50 K/min, is described. Oxidative decomposition took place in several steps; compounds which oxidize more easily, decomposed in the first two steps while in the last step thermal decomposition of the species which are not prone to oxidation, takes place. Higher heating rates lead to the shift of TGA curves to higher temperatures. In air, olive oil at 50 K/min and in peanut oil at 20 K/min at 50 K/min, decompose in only two steps. The TGA of olive and peanut oil in nitrogen shows that thermal decomposition took place in a single step. In addition, DIFTG curves, which represent the difference between TGA curves obtained in air and nitrogen atmosphere, are shown. Peanut and olive oil have a similar composition and therefore a similar profile of thermal decomposition. The comparison of the thermal decomposition of both oils in air and nitrogen atmosphere at 5 K/min shows slower decomposition of the peanut oil sample, because peanut oil sample contains more polyunsaturated fatty acids, which oxidize in the first step of thermal decomposition. The products of this oxidation dissolve in the liquid phase and decompose later. Using DSC, the induced oxidation time (OIT) was determined at 160 °C to 18.6 min and 17.3 min for olive oil and peanut oil, respectively. Iodine value (IV) was also determined, which refers to the mass of iodine in grams absorbed by 100 grams of oil. The IV values obtained in this thesis are 88.8 ± 0.3 and 88.6 ± 0.6 for olive and peanut oil, respectively and correspond to the literature data.
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