Industrial oleochemicals chemicals

Figure 3.56 in Section 3.8 illustrates the mechanism of phase-transfer catalysis. Tables 4.4 and 4.5 give examples of industrial importance in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, oleochemicals, etc. 

Industrial Development and Application of Biobased Oleochemicals Table 4.1 Evaluation of environmental compatibility of chemicals. 

Fig. 34.35. Oleochemical derivatization pathways. (Modified from Zoebelein, H "Renewable resources for the chemical industry," INFORM, 3, 721-725 (1992), and Johnson, L. A. and Meyers, D. J "Industrial uses for soybeans," in Practical Handbook of Soybean Processing and Utilization, D. R. Erickson (Ed.), pp. 380-427, AOCS Press, Champaign, IL, 1995.)...

The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) is a nonprofit trade association representing manufacturers of household, industrial, and institutional cleaning products, their ingredients and finished packaging oleochemical producers and chemical distributors to the cleaning product industry. SDA members produce more than 90 percent of the cleaning products marketed in the U.S. 

Oleochemical Route. Oleochemicals. Oleochemicals are chemicals derived from oils or fats. They are analogous to petrochemicals, which are chemicals derived from petroleum. The hydrolysis or alcoholysis of oils or fats form the basis of the oleochemical industry. The hydrolysis of the triglycerides composing oils and fats produces fatty acids and glycerol. If oils or fats are made to react with an alcohol instead of with water, the process is alcoholysis, and the products are fatty acid esters and glycerol. 

Fatty acid methyl esters play a major role in the oleochemical industry. Methyl esters have increasingly replaced fatty acids as starting materials for many oleo-chemicals. They are used as chemical intermediates for a number of oleochemicals, such as fatty alcohols, alkanolamides, a-sulfonated methyl esters, and many more. One other potential use of methyl esters is as a substitute for diesel oil (14). Methyl esters are clean burning with no sulfur dioxide emission. Although the heat of combustion is shghtly lower, there is no engine adjustment necessary and there is no loss in efficiency. 

Oleochemicals are derivatives of fats and oils that are used in the chemical industry to produce a wide variety of products that are then used in numerous applications. The chemical reactions that are used require clean, relatively high-quality raw materials in most, but not all, cases. Some of these markets purchase raw materials on price alone, so they usually get the lowest quality oils. The successful operation can take the cheapest waste oils and convert them into high-value end-products. A good example of this is the conversion of spent restaurant grease into bio-diesel fuel. 

In fat chemistry ( oleochemistry ) no considerable application of homogeneous catalysis and of industrial importance is known so far [1], One reason for this is the modest reactivity of the starting chemicals. Oleochemicals are molecules with a long carbon chain. The double bonds of unsaturated fatty compounds are always in internal positions. Hence, the steric hindrance of oleochemicals is often very high, and the coordination to metal complexes is made difficult. In addition all fatty compounds contain a substituent with a heteroatom such as carboxyl, ester, aldehyde, alcohol, or amine groups. These substituents often react with organome-tallic compounds and can inactivate the catalyst. 

In our ciurent research effort to find new industrial uses for vegetables oils, we are studying the cleavage of the oxirane group to develop new oleochemicals for applications in the fields of lubricants and detergents, and as new chemical intermediates. 

Thus, the use of renewable materials declined significantly over time, mainly due to the extremely low prices for petrochemical resources. Currently, approximately 96% of aU organic chemical substances are based on fossil resources. Nevertheless, a substantial number of industries are still based on renewable raw materials (RRMs). StiU half of the fibers used in the textile industry are natural materials (cotton, wool, flax) and the oleochemical industry satisfies sodely s daily hygienic needs for soaps with detergents that are based on vegetable oils. The building industry continues to use natural fibers for construction insulation purposes. 

Fatty acid esters are generally obtained from the transesterification of fats and oils with a lower alcohol, e.g. methanol, along with glycerol. More than 90% of all oleochemical reactions (conversion into fatty alcohols and fatty amines) of fatty acid esters (or acids) are carried out at the carboxy functionality. However, transformation of unsaturated fatty acid esters by reactions of the carbon-carbon double bond, such as hydrogenation, epoxidation, ozonolysis, and dimerization, are becoming increasingly of industrial importance. Here we will discuss another catalytic reaction of the carbon-carbon double bond, viz. the olefin metathesis reaction, in which olefins are converted into new products via the rupture and reformation of carbon-carbon double bonds [2]. Metathesis of unsaturated fatty acid esters provides a convenient route to various chemical products in only a few reaction steps. 

Worldwide reserves of petroleum feedstocks are rapidly depleted. Therefore, one must look for alternative feedstocks for developing a sustainable chemical industry. Nowadays more and more companies become interested in the use of oleochemicals. 

Due to the fact that the conversion of oleochemical feedstocks into more valuable chemicals appears especially attractive, an economical metathesis of fats and oils and their derivatives should be considered seriously by the oleochemical industry. It has perspectives especially for production of products with a high added value. As an example, Figure 1 presents a process scheme for the (batch-wise) production of dimethyl octadecene-l,18-dioate from methyl oleate via metathesis in the presence of a supported Re207 catalyst [68]. 

Incoshield, Long-fiber nickel concentrates, INCO Specialty Powder Products Indofast, Organic pigment, Bayer Corp., Performance Products Indopol, Polybutene, Amoco Chemicals Industrene, Technical-industrial fatty acids, Witeo Corp., Oleochemicals Derivatives Div. Ineilec, Polypropylene sheet. Polymer Industries... 

The evolntion of the sophisticated prodncts and chemical-process technologies that are used today trace their origins back to the nineteenth centnry and the nascent chemical industry that relied on renewable oleochemical feedstocks. Synthetic snrfactants prepared by the reaction of olive oil with sulfnric acid, performed by Fremy in 1831, was among the first." ... 

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