Isolation of fatty acids from an egyptian petroleum

A mixture of straight-chain fatty acids (from C₇ to C₁₉) was isolated from an Egyptian petroleum via extractive crystallisation with urea. Although the total acidic content in Egyptian petroleum is low, the fatty acids constitute at least 32% of the total acids. n-Pentadecanoic and n-nonadecanoic acids were isolated for the first time from petroleum acids by a sequence involving fractional distillation of the methyl esters, extractive crystallisation with urea and recrystallisation of amide derivatives.