Oleochemicals: Feedstock or auxiliary

Today’s oleochemicals are substances which are used not mainly because of their sophisticated chemical structures or their chemical reactivity, but rather because of their adaptability as auxiliaries in a great variety of formulated products. This has determined their success in the marketplace. The conversion to long-chain building blocks for polymers is one possibility to move oleochemicals into a larger scale position as feedstocks. In the near future, this objective cannot be reached because two factors limit their economical chemical derivation; namely, the missing technologies to separate chemical individuals with one or two double bonds in the alkyl chain from the natural mixtures, and to cleave double bonds in a controlled way, without forming larger quantities of byproducts. In any case, before oleochemicals (e.g., fatty acid methyl esters) are used as substitutes for gasoil, as is already tried in certain countries, the chemical potential of oleochemicals should be exploited. That means: “Use it-don’t burn it!” Today’s chemical processes and uses for oleochemicals are discussed.