Oleochemicals & olive oil information - Chemical Man India

Oleochemicals (from Latin: oleum “olive oil”) are chemicals derived from plant and animal fats. They are analogous to petrochemicals derived from petroleum.

The formation of basic oleochemical substances like fatty acids, fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), fatty alcohols, fatty amines and glycerols are by various chemical and enzymatic reactions.

 Intermediate chemical substances produced from these basic oleochemical substances include 

alcohol ethoxylates

 alcohol sulfates

alcohol ether sulfates

 quaternary ammonium salts

monoacylglycerols (MAG)

 diacylglycerols (DAG)

, structured triacylglycerols (TAG), 

sugar esters, and other oleochemical products.

As the price of crude oil rose in the late 1970 manufacturers switched from petrochemicals to oleochemicals  because plant-based lauric oils processed from palm kernel oil were cheaper. Since then, palm kernel oil is predominantly used in the production of laundry detergent and personal care items like toothpaste, soap bars, shower cream and shampoo.

Applications

The largest application for oleochemicals, about 30% of market share for fatty acids and 55% for fatty alcohols, is for making soaps and detergents.:21 Lauric acid, used to produce sodium lauryl sulfate and related compounds, which are used to make soaps and other personal care products.
 

Other applications of oleochemicals include the production of lubricants, solvents, biodiesel and bioplastics. Due to the use of methyl esters in biodiesel production, they represent the fastest growing sub-sector of oleochemical production in recent years.

Oleochemicals are important raw material for polymeric resins specially alkyd based because of possible functional group modifications. These modifications are based on reaction of vegetable oil with excess glycerol to obtain monoglyceride, which is then converted into polymeric resins i.e. alkyd by reacting with dicarboxylic acids or anhydrides. Recently polyesteramide resins are also prepared using vegetable oil as an oleochemical.