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Fatty
acid is a carboxylic acid with a long unbranched aliphatic tail (chain),
which is either saturated or unsaturated.
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Fatty
acids are merely carboxylic acids with long hydrocarbon chains. The
hydrocarbon chain length may vary from 10-30 carbons.
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Fatty
acids are the building blocks that, with proper selection and
application of oleochemistry, are converted to higher valued products.
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Fatty
acids act as building blocks of lipids. In general, they contain even
numbers of carbon atoms in straight chains ,although the synthases can
also produce odd- and branched chain fatty acids to some extent when
supplied with the appropriate precursors; other substituent groups,
including double bonds, are normally incorporated into the aliphatic
chain later by different enzyme systems .
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The
principal raw materials from which the natural fatty acids are derived
are tallow, crude tall oil, coconut, palm kernel, and soybean oils.
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Fatty
acids are present in fats and oils as glycerides or esters of glycerol
except in sperm oil, where some of the fatty acids are esterified with
fatty alcohols, mainly cetyl alcohol. The fatty acids are released by
hydrolyzing ester linkage.
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The
natural fatty acids are generally aliphatic compounds with a carboxyl
group at the end of a straight carbon chain.
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Coconut oil is well positioned because it has the unique advantage of
having its fatty acid composition falling within the carbon chain
spectrum highly desired by the oleochemical industry where the C12 and
C14 fatty acid fractions are sought after.
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Fatty
acid methyl ester is the starting material for the production of fatty
alcohol and is processed to an active substance in sulfation/
sulfonation plants.
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Fatty
acids are used as starting materials for soaps, medium-chain
triglycerides, polyol esters, alkanolamides, and many more.
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The
fatty acids produced from the various fat-splitting processes are
purified and separated into fractions or even individual fatty acids by
distillation and fractionation.
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Natural oils, such as palm oil, and rapeseed oil are good raw materials
from which fatty acids can be produced. The production of fatty acids
will, therefore, be based on imported palm oil which is much cheaper
than the locally available rape seed oil.
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There
are two basic types of processes for the splitting (or hydrolysis) of
natural oils to produce fatty acids. These are batch and continuous
processes.
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Fatty
acids are also important raw materials in the production of higher
alcohols and synthetic surfactants.
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The
world production of fatty acids from the hydrolysis of natural fats and
oils totaled about 4 million metric tons per year. Fatty acids are
ultimately consumed in a wide variety of end-use industries (rubber,
plastics, detergents...).
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The
future demand for fatty acid depends mainly on the growth of end user
industries. Hence, future demand for the product is contingent upon
growth of the national economy, especially the manufacturing sector.
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Soap
and fatty acid manufacturers use vegetable oil or animal fat as a
feedstock input. These industries have also produced the majority of the
natural glycerin in years past. Therefore, biodiesel production has
directly impacted the profitability of these industries by competing for
inputs and depressing their glycerin prices. This trend will eventually
lead some soap and fatty acid manufacturers to move operations overseas.
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Fatty
acid demand is expected to continue to be strong , fuelled by growth in
consumer products such as cosmetics and plastics. Prices of fatty acids
in Asia are dependent on feedstock palm kernel, palm stearin and crude
palm oil prices and tend to follow the price trends of these raw
materials.
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The
rubber industry consumes large quantities of fatty acids. Mostly,
saturated fatty acids are used as activators, accelerators and softening
agents.
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The
textile industry uses fairly large quantities of fatty acids, largely in
the form of derivatives. Because of the diversity of the industry and
the numerous forms in which fatty acids are used, it is difficult to
estimate volumes.