Fatty acids: safe and versatile building blocks for the chemical industry

Fatty acids are basis ingredients for a wide range of consumer and technical products, for which they provide properties and benefits not readily or economically achieved using mineral-derived sources.

They can contribute to the development of a more sustainable, biobased economy –not only through their inherent natural basis, but also through the ability of the fatty acid producers to handle a wide range of technical/non-edible oil and fat sources and to make from them high quality, well-defined materials for value-added onward application. Furthermore, the natural mixtures can be readily purified and separated to yield end products with precise functionality and properties, distinct from those of the parent triglyceride compositions.

This talk will outline the processing and chemistry of fatty acids, and illustrate their versatility as basic building blocks with two contemporary examples ; development of a synthetic oleochemical wax, and (the properties and benefits provided by) polymerised fatty acids in a solvent-free coating.