Abstract:In this study，a short-range molecular distillation technology was used to extract conjugated linoleic acid from the tail fat of Tan sheep，in order to obtain a high utilizable value.The tail tissue of Tan sheep was used as raw material and compared based on the influence of different material solvent ratio，time and temperature.Furthermore，the extraction condition was optimized，and the effect of the short-range molecular distillation technology on its extraction was analyzed.The results showed that solvent extraction by petroleum ether was relatively higher than those of n-hexane，cyclohexane and absolute ethanol in fat extraction.The optimum extraction conditions were determined by response surface methodology as follows：extraction temperature was 62℃，extraction time was 8 h，material solvent ratio was 1∶30 （g/mL），while the rate of fat extraction was 89.46%.According to the average free path of different fatty acids，the extracted fat was distilled by molecular distillation.This study therefore demonstrated that conjugated linoleic acid could be effectively distilled from the fat of sheep tail fat at 320℃ with a vacuum degree of 1 mbar.Furthermore，the content of the conjugated linoleic acid in distilled light phase was 19.35 mg/g，which was 59.58% higher than that of traditional fractionation method.