behenate by fitting the data to the Avrami model. For the palm oil,
even with the addition of the emulsifier resulted in a low k value,
indicating that sucrose behenate influenced slightly its crystallization.
The Avrami constant, k, which indicates the speed of the crystallization
process, decreased with increase in temperature. At
25 C, no differences in the k values were observed for the samples
with or without sucrose behenate. According to Miskandar et al.
(2007), the action of an emulsifier in promoting or retarding oil
and fat crystallization depends on various factors. Katsuragi
(1999) suggested that similar acyl groups in the emulsifier and
oil or fat promote crystallization, while different acyl groups delay
the development of crystals.