Manufacture of fatty alcohols based on natural fats and oils |
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Authors: | Udo R Kreutzer |
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Affiliation: | (1) Henkel KGaA, Postfach 1100, D-4000 Düsseldorf 1, West Germany |
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Abstract: | The present worldwide capacity of fatty alcohols is ca. 1.0 million metric tons per year. About 60% of this capacity is based
on petrochemical feedstocks, 40% on natural fats and oils. Three basic dominating commercial-scale processes are used to manufacture
fatty alcohols: the Ziegler process and the Oxo synthesis starting from petrochemical feedstocks, and the high-pressure hydrogenation
of natural fatty acids and esters. Basically, the high-pressure hydrogenation can be used with triglycerides, fatty acids
or fatty acid esters as feedstock. The direct hydrogenation of fats and oils has not been developed to a commercial-scale
process, mainly because it was not possible to prevent decomposition of the valuable byproduct glycerol. Conversion of fatty
acids into fatty alcohols by catalytic hydrogenation without preesterification requires corrosion-resistant materials of construction
and acid-resistant catalysts. Required reaction temperatures are higher, resulting in a higher hydrocarbon content. The majority
of fatty alcohol plants based on natural fats and oils use methyl esters as feedstock. These can be made either by esterification
of fatty acids or by-transesterification of triglycerides. For catalytic high-pressure hydrogenation of methyl esters to fatty
alcohols, several process options have been developed. The bawic distinguishing feature is the catalyst application either
in a fixed bed arrangement or suspended in the methyl ester feed. |
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