Cooking oil can be converted into vegetable ghee by the process of

Options

A. oxidation
B. hydrogenation
C. distillation
D. crystallisation

Answer

To convert cooking oil into vegetable ghee, the process used is called hydrogenation. Here’s a step-by-step explanation of how this process works:

### Step-by-Step Solution:

1. **Understanding Cooking Oil**:
- Cooking oil is primarily composed of unsaturated fatty acids. This means it contains one or more double bonds between carbon atoms in its molecular structure.

2. **Identifying the Process**:
- The conversion of cooking oil (unsaturated) to vegetable ghee (saturated) requires the addition of hydrogen. This process is known as hydrogenation.

3. **Adding Hydrogen**:
- During hydrogenation, hydrogen gas (H₂) is added to the cooking oil. This is typically done in the presence of a catalyst, which can be metals like platinum, palladium, or nickel.

4. **Chemical Reaction**:
- The hydrogen molecules react with the double bonds in the unsaturated fatty acids of the cooking oil. This reaction converts the double bonds into single bonds, effectively saturating the fatty acids.

5. **Resulting Product**:
- The end product of this reaction is vegetable ghee, which is a saturated fat. Saturated fats have no double bonds in their fatty acid chains, making them solid at room temperature.

6. **Conclusion**:
- Therefore, the process that converts cooking oil into vegetable ghee is called hydrogenation.