Uses of fats,fatty oils,and derivatives in the petroleum industry

Conclusion The use of fats, fatty oils, and derivatives is extensive in the petroleum industry to improve its lubricants in their wetting ability or oiliness. Fats and their derivatives serve to carry active elements such as chlorine, sulfur, and phosphorus for the improvement of load-carrying capacity, resistance to oxidation, inhibiting corrosiveness, and preventing wear during use. Greases are compounded from whole fats and fatty acids which serve under suitable conditions to gel lubricating oil and thus fulfill lubricating requirements which the liquid oils cannot themselves satisfy. Greases and their components may be tested for skin hardening in storage by means of an oxygen absorption test which distinguishes between satisfactory and unsatisfactory ingredients and products. Presented in a symposium on the Industrial Applications of Fats & Fatty Acids at the Fall Convention of the American Oil Chemists Society, Chicago, Oct. 1939.