Tallow worldwide production

The concept of a soap-LSDA detergent represents a simple solution to the quest for less polluting highly efficient laundry detergents [47,48]. If present worldwide price trends for petrochemicals, phosphates, and other builders continue to rise, the use of tallow or other fats and oils, which are replenishable agricultural products or byproducts, should become economically more attractive. Since the USD A research team initiated research on soap-LSDA detergents, the a-sulfonated fatty acid esters (MES) have become commercially available in the United States, Europe, and Japan. 

Surfactants can be produced from both petrochemical resources and/or renewable, mostly oleochemical, feedstocks. Crude oil and natural gas make up the first class while palm oil (+kernel oil), tallow and coconut oil are the most relevant representatives of the group of renewable resources. Though the worldwide supplies of crude oil and natural gas are limited—estimated in 1996 at 131 X 1091 and 77 X 109 m3, respectively [28]—it is not expected that this will cause concern in the coming decades or even until the next century. In this respect it should be stressed that surfactant products only represent 1.5% of all petrochemical uses. Regarding the petrochemically derived raw materials, the main starting products comprise ethylene, n-paraffins and benzene obtained from crude oil by industrial processes such as distillation, cracking and adsorption/desorption. The primary products are subsequently converted to a series of intermediates like a-olefins, oxo-alcohols, primary alcohols, ethylene oxide and alkyl benzenes, which are then further modified to yield the desired surfactants. 

Applications. The main application of fatty carboxylates is found in the soap bars used worldwide for hand-washing fabrics (generally based on tallow/coconut oil mixtures). Water-soluble soaps are mainly used in skin cleansers (soap bars or liquids), shaving products (sticks, foams, or creams), and deodorant sticks. Water-insoluble soaps form gels in nonaqueous systems and, due to their hydrophobicity, they can be appropriate surfactants for water/oil (w/o) emulsions. 

---