Oils and Fats as Raw Materials for Industry

Book excerpt: Vegetable oils are the tri-esters on hydrolysis yield fatty acids and glycerol. Vegetable oils themselves or their fatty acids obtained after hydrolysis can be exploited as a raw material for various industries. Fatty acids due to owing active carboxylic avid group reacts easily with alcohols, acids and amines and gives products with ester and amide linkages. In addition, long alkyl chains incorporate hydrophobicity into products, enabling them for use in various industrial applications. In addition, these fatty acids are used to make various cyclic compounds with heteroatoms like imidazolines and ammonium quats. Oils and fats can be used as raw materials in many industries including food and agriculture, as surfactants in laundry detergents and cosmetics, as well as in pharmaceuticals. Moreover, unsaturated vegetable oils are also suitable to form epoxides and hence, are important in the manufacturing of paints and adhesives. Limited sources of petrochemicals and their harmful effects on health and the environment also promote the use of naturally occurring oils and fats as biodiesel after some chemical modification. Moreover, a vast variety of nonedible oils that can be obtained from easily cultivable plant species are receiving great interest from researchers because they not only yield cost-effective products but are also proven as a substrate to promote sustainable research. In this book, the editors will cover all possible industrial applications of the products that are formed using edible and non-edible vegetable oils. Vegetable oils are not a new research area, although they are considered an evergreen or long-lasting topic as most of the research in synthetic chemistry has been carried out on vegetable oils.