Fatty acids refining

Physical Refining Fatty acids, mono- and diglycerides, oxidation products, pigment decomposition products... 

Chem. Descrip. Polyglycerol (mainly di-, tri-, and tetra-) ester of edible refined fatty acids... 

To avoid these problems, refiners commonly use additives called detergents" (Hall et al., 1976), (Bert et al., 1983). These are in reality surfactants made from molecules having hydrocarbon chains long enough to ensure their solubility in the fuel and a polar group that enables them to be absorbed on the walls and prevent deposits from sticking. The most effective chemical structures are succinimides, imides, and fatty acid amines. The required dosages are between 500 and 1000 ppm of active material. 

Separation of Fatty Acids. Tall oil is a by-product of the pulp and paper manufacturiag process and contains a spectmm of fatty acids, such as palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acids, and rosia acids, such as abietic acid. The conventional refining process to recover these fatty acids iavolves iatensive distillation under vacuum. This process does not yield high purity fatty acids, and moreover, a significant degradation of fatty acids occurs because of the high process temperatures. These fatty and rosia acids can be separated usiag a UOP Sorbex process (93—99) (Tables 8 and 9). 

Commercial cmde lecithin is a brown to light yeUow fatty substance with a Hquid to plastic consistency. Its density is 0.97 g/mL (Uquid) and 0.5 g/mL (granule). The color is dependent on its origin, process conditions, and whether it is unbleached, bleached, or filtered. Its consistency is deterrnined chiefly by its oil, free fatty acid, and moisture content. Properly refined lecithin has practically no odor and has a bland taste. It is soluble in aflphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, including the halogenated hydrocarbons however, it is only partially soluble in aflphatic alcohols (Table 5). Pure phosphatidylcholine is soluble in ethanol. 

Siace the mid 1950s, tall oil fatty acids (TOFA) have become available ia good quaUties and large quantities (see Carboxylic acids, fatty acids from TALL oil). Refined grades of TOFA have degrees of unsaturation rivaling that of soya acids. Siace it is a year-rouad by-product from the paper iadustry, its... 

Table 5. Typical Properties of Refined Tall Oil Fatty Acids...

Enriched polyunsaturated fatty acids from highly refined TOFA. 

In the initial black Hquor concentration, saponified fatty and resin acid salts separate as tall oil soaps (see Tall oil). These soaps can be skimmed from the aqueous spent Hquor, acidified, and refined to give a cmde tall oil composed of resin acids, chiefly abietic and neoabietic fatty acids, chiefly oleic and Hnoleic and an unsaponifiable fraction made of phytosterols, alcohols, and hydrocarbons. Tall oil is fractionated primarily into fatty acids (see... 

Tall oil rosin is a by-product of paper manufacturing. Raw wood chips are digested under heat and pressure with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. Soluble sodium salts of lignin, rosin, and fatty acids are formed, which are removed from the wood pulp as a dark solution. The soaps of the rosin and fatty acids float to the top of the mixture, where they are skimmed off and treated with sulfuric acid to free the rosin and fatty acids. This mixture, known as cmde tall oil (CTO), is refined further to remove color and odor bodies fractional distillation separates the tall oil rosin acids from the fatty acids (see Tall oil). 

The principal constituents of rosin (qv) are abietic and related acids. Tall oil (qv) is a mixture of unsaturated fatty and aHcycHc acids of the abietic family. Refined tall oil may be high in rosin acids or unsaturated acids, depending on the refining process. Ethoxylates of rosin acids, eg, dehydro abietic acid, are similar to fatty acid ethoxylates in surfactant properties and manufacture, except for thek stabiHty to hydrolysis. No noticeable decomposition is observed when a rosin ester of this type is boiled for 15 min in 10% sulfuric acid or 25% sodium hydroxide (90). Steric hindrance of the carboxylate group associated with the aHcycHc moiety has been suggested as the cause of this unexpectedly great hydrolytic stabiHty. 

Minor uses of vanadium chemicals are preparation of vanadium metal from refined pentoxide or vanadium tetrachloride Hquid-phase organic oxidation reactions, eg, production of aniline black dyes for textile use and printing inks color modifiers in mercury-vapor lamps vanadyl fatty acids as driers in paints and varnish and ammonium or sodium vanadates as corrosion inhibitors in flue-gas scmbbers. 

Grease Refining and Fractionation. Lanolin to be used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics must conform to strict requirements of purity, such as those in the U.S. and British Pharmacopoeias (181,182). These include specifications for the maximum allowable content of free fatty acids, moisture, ash, and free chloride. Lanolin intended for certain dermatological appHcations may have to meet further specifications in relation to free-alcohol and detergent contents (183,184). 

The refining process most commonly used involves treatment with hot aqueous alkaH to convert free fatty acids to soaps, followed by bleaching, usually with hydrogen peroxide, although sodium chlorite, sodium hypochlorite, and ozone have also been used. Other techniques include distillation, steam stripping, neutralization by alkaH, Hquid thermal diffusion, and the use of active adsorbents, eg, charcoal and bentonite, and solvent fractionation... 

Jojoba is a desert crop that gives a small bean containing about 50% of a wax, a fatty acid ester with a fatty alcohol. The only other large source of such a wax is sperm whale oil, traditionally used in fine lubricants (see Lubrication and lubricants). Because the sperm whale is an endangered species, relatively Httle sperm whale oil is available and there is a large market for a substitute. Jojoba oil has been found to be usable for most of these appHcations. The jojoba oil is obtained by simply pressing the nut followed by conventional refining. Some jojoba oil is used in cosmetics (qv). 

Tall oil [8002-26-4] has been referred to as the largest and fastest growing source of extractives such as turpentine and resin. It can be refined to give tall oil fatty acids (see Carboxylic acids) and tall oil pitch as well as resins. These fatty acids compete with fatty acids from vegetable sources for many of the same industrial markets. 

Trees, especially conifers, contain tall oils. Tall oil is not isolated dkecfly tall oil fatty acids are isolated from the soaps generated as a by-product of the sulfate pulping process for making paper. Refined tall oil fatty acids are obtained by acidification of the soaps, followed by fractional distillation to separate the fatty acids from the rosin acids and terpene hydrocarbons that also are present in the cmde tall oil fatty acids (see Carboxylic acids Fatty ACIDS FROMTALL OIL). 

Sacchettini, J.C., et al. Refined apoprotein stmcture of rat intestinal fatty acid binding protein produced in Escherichia coli. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86 7736-7740, 1989. 

Compared with the fatty alcohol sulfates, which are also oleochemically produced anionic surfactants, the ester sulfonates have the advantage that their raw materials are on a low and therefore cost-effective level of fat refinement. The ester sulfonates are produced directly from the fatty acid esters by sulfona-tion, whereas the fatty alcohols, which are the source materials of the fatty alcohol sulfates, have to be formed by the catalytic high-pressure hydrogenation of fatty acids esters [9]. The fatty acid esters are obtained directly from the fats and oils by transesterification of the triglycerides with alcohols [10]. 

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