Oleochemistry fatty acid methyl esters

Fats and oils are renewable products of nature. One can aptly call them oil from the sun where the sun s energy is biochemically converted to valuable oleochemicals via oleochemistry. Natural oleochemicals derived from natural fats and oils by splitting or tran -esterification, such as fatty acids, methyl esters, and glycerine are termed basic oleochemicals. Fatty alcohols and fatty amines may also be counted as basic oleochemicals, because of their importance in the manufacture of derivatives (8). Further processing of the basic oleochemicals by different routes, such as esterification, ethoxylation, sulfation, and amidation (Figure 1), produces other oleochemical products, which are termed oleochemical derivatives. 

Fats and Oils The Raw Materials of Oleochemistry. Fats and oils are triglycerides (i.e., fatty acid esters of glycerol). They are the starting materials for the production of fatty acid methyl esters, which are important intermediates in the production of fatty alcohols and surfactants [198] by the oleochemical route, which has great ecological benefits [199]. The fatty acid methyl esters are produced either by the esterification of fatty acids after hydrolysis of the triglycerides or by direct transesterification with methanol. The overall transesterification reaction is as follows ... 

Fatty acid methyl esters are now the main intermediates in oleochemistry. Epox-idation can be considered as a transformation currently applied to triglycerides that is easy to perform on an industrial scale, compared with the production process for fatty alcohol. Therefore, why should epoxidized fatty acid methyl esters not become one of the commodities of the future The commercial development of these compounds requires easy, environmentally friendly (e.g., avoiding catalyst use) routes of low production cost as well as identified industrial outputs. Such considerations were taken into account in this study both rapeseed methyl esters (RME) and high-oleic sunflower methyl esters (HOSME) were used as starting materials. 

Fatty acid esters of mono- and polyfunctional alcohols are the workhorses of oleochemistry. In many fields of application fatty acid methyl esters replace fatty adds because they are less corrosive. Chemical reactions can often be carried out under milder conditions. They have lower boiling points and require less energy to distil and to fractionate than the corresponding fatty acids. The elimination of methanol from the reaction products can be more easily achieved than that of water. Therefore fatty acid methyl esters are primarily used for the production of saturated and unsaturated fatty alcohols. Methyl esters are manufactured by acid catalyzed esterification of fatty acids in counter-current reaction columns or by alkaline transesterification starting directly from the triglyceride oils in a batch, semi-batch or continuous process (Figure 9.1.37> ° ° ... 

This chapter describes the production of mild surfactants based on fatty acids, fatty acid methyl esters, and fatty alcohols from the oleochemistry in combination with petrochemical compounds such as alkanolamines, maleic acid anhydride, or glucose/glucose derivatives. 

Oils and fats are also used for non-food purposes, such as the production of motor fuels, in oleochemistry and cosmetics. For these purposes, common edible oils and fats of lower quality are used. Some oils are obtained specifically for technological purposes, such as castor oil or tung oil. A typical example of the use of oils as fuel for diesel engines is the production of fatty acid methyl esters, especially from rapeseed oil. Oleochemicals from oils and fats manufacturing include fatty acids, fatty alcohols and other derivatives for the production of surfactants and subsequently detergents, paints, plastics, adhesives, building materials and many other products. 

F. is precise isolation of a given chemical by - distillation. It is used in oleochemistry, e. g., for fatty acids, methyl esters and alcohols. 

Up to now, many effective methods have been developed for the coupling reaction of primary alcohols with saccharides (e.g., the Koenigs-Knorr reaction or the trichloroacetimidate method) (41). The coupling of long-chain, branched, secondary alcohols with glycosides has offered more problems subsequently, fewer approaches toward the development of these products have been made (42). Therefore, we started to explore the oleochemistry and the potential use of two secondary hydroxy fatty acid esters, namely, methyl 9- [4] and methyl 12- hydroxyoctadecanoate [5]. 

The reaction of excess amounts of methyl acrylate and the self-metathesis products of monounsaturated fatty acids like methyl ester of oleic acid with ethylene, produces valuable monomers for polycondensation polymers, as well as precursors for detergents in the presence of a suitable metathesis catalyst. In oleochemistry, azaleic and pelargonic acid were obtained industrially by ozonolysis of oleic acid. Non-linear fatty acid derivatives with two double bonds, (ricinoleic acid maleate) and one double bond (ricinoleic acid succinate) were produced from ricinoleic acid by esterification with maleic and succinic anhydride, respectively. Hydrogenation of this ricinoleic acid succinate yielded 12-hydroxystearic acid succinate which is a monomer for vegetable oil-based polyester. 

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