Conjugated linoleic acid oils commercial production

The most convenient source of conjugated diene acids is via the dehydration of castor oil (Section 3.3.4) by heating ( 250°C) in the presence of an acidic catalyst. The product is complex and the dienes produced from ricinoleate are both conjugated (mainly A9,ll) and non-conjugated (mainly A9,12) in the proportion 1 3 or 4. Several configurational isomers are produced and double-bond migration complicates the product further. Alkaline isomerization of linoleic-rich oils also produces conjugated dienes (A9,ll and A10,12) but these processes have not proved to be of commercial value. 

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