Fats and oils as feedstocks for oleochemicals

The approximate quantity of 3 million tons estimated to be required at present for the production of oleochemicals is to be covered from a total production of more than 60 million tons of vegetable and animal fats. While the quantity of eleochemicals produced has nearly doubled in recent years, vegetable oil production alone has increased from 25 to 40 million tons in the same period. More than half the feedstocks required for oleochemicals are acid oils and other fats and oils which are unsuitable for human food. The demand for fats and oils for oleochemicals will certainly grow for price and technological reasons, but only the use of large quantities of oils and fats for diesel engines could shift this balance drastically and endanger the world supply of edible fats. A bottleneck may arise in the supply of fatty acids of medium chain length, although the use of coconut and palm kernel oil by the food industry in the highly developed countries has been on the decline. The green revolution goes on and the fat supply grows faster than the population. In addition, new approaches to plant breeding and agriculture, and biochemical processes as well, might help circumvent any conceivable shortage in the supply of oils and fats in general, and in the supply of special fatty acids in particular.