What else besides commodity oils and fats?

For over 40 years Oil World publications of Hamburg have provided business data on 17 commercial oils. These include 4 animal fats and 13 vegetable oils from 12 species. But natural oils are seldom optimum for their ultimate human use. This review refers briefly to the technological methods of modifying lipids and describes in more detail five biological procedures by which a wider range of lipids is being developed. These include the domestication of wild crops, the modification of existing crops by seed breeding and by genetic modification, the use of microbial lipids particularly as a source of PUFA, and the modification of triacylglycerol composition by lipase-mediated reaction.     

Natural plant oils and fats as renewable resources: A sustainable option?

Whilst many opportunities for the utilisation of natural oils and fats have been identified in scientific and technical studies there has been little uptake by the marketplace. Recent policy decisions related to climate change have driven a new market development in biodiesel and this development has overshadowed almost all of the other potential market developments that could occur in this sector. A re‐establishment of balance is required. Further, there is a need to develop awareness and promote the uptake of the opportunities available; frequently there are non‐technical barriers to development.     

Experimental investigation on solid dispersion,power consumption and scale-up in moderate to dense solid–liquid suspensions

Detailed particle concentration distribution in dense solid–liquid suspension was measured by means of fiber optic probes. The effect of solid loading, impeller speed, and impeller type and clearance was investigated. Results were compared with modeling approaches to show the accuracy of sedimentation–dispersion model and its capability to describe complex phenomena taking place in dense liquid–solid mixing systems. Variation of power numbers by changing impeller clearance and solid loading were also investigated. It was shown that the impeller power number for a slurry system exhibited different trends in a moderate or dense liquid–solid system. In addition, scale-up rules to achieve the same level of homogeneity on a large scale as the laboratory scale were evaluated.