Vegetable oils as raw materials for industrial applications

Natural fats and oils, carbohydrates and proteins are key raw materials for the chemical industry using renewable resources. Although in general, biomass is available in large amounts (e.g. cellulose), the annual production volumes of selected biobased commodities are still small compared to coal or crude oil.
Annual production of commodities worldwide (2004, million tons)a
Wheat Rice Starch Sugarb Fats&Oilsc Crude Oil Coald
610 610 40 145 131 3600 3800
a) sources: OilWorld, USDA, Industrieverband Agrar, Wikipedia; b) from beet and cane;
c) vegetable and animal based; d) as SKE (1 kg SKE = 0,984 kg bituminous coal)

Until now, availability and use was quite balanced and the quantities could be adjusted according to different demands. For example, in the case of natural oils and fats, the production volume was steadily increased from 30 million tons in 1960 to 131 million tons in 2004. Most of it was used for food (81% in 2004), a minor amount for animal feed (6% in 2004) and chemistry (10% in 2004). However, what we have observed for some time is a shift towards an increasing use of renewable raw materials for bioenergy and biofuels. In the case of natural vegetable oils, the expected share for energy is estimated to grow to 15% (!) of the total annual capacity in 2012 compared to 3% in 2004. This is one consequence of political measures such as the European Biofuel Directive 2003/30/EC. Biodiesel production volumes were expanded significantly in the recent past and this trend is expected to continue in Europe and other regions such as South East Asia, South America and India, with a further increase in production capacities forecasted at least for the next 5-10 years.
When the so-called 2nd generation products, such as sundiesel or biomass-to-liquid fuels, are ready to be launched on the market, the demand on fats and oils for biofuels might decrease again. These new technologies are definitely needed assuming that even with increasing production volumes for fats and oils, the future bioenergy and biofuel demand cannot be satisfied by this source alone.
In the meantime, the high demands for biodiesel, still further stimulated by subsidies, will create strong competition with the established uses for vegetable oils for nutrition and also for the chemical industry (oleochemistry). A very similar situation is being observed in the case of bioethanol from carbohydrates and/or sugar. The competition between the use of agricultural products for nutrition and energy is one of the reasons why market prices of such agricultural commodities are recently subject of extremely high volatility. Other reasons are the increasing demand for food in various regions of the earth, crop yield, and financial speculations by investment funds.
The use of renewable resources is only one important part of the future "green" strategy in industry. What must also be considered are sustainability practices across the entire value chain. This strategy is already applied to palm oil. It is the first time an expert group (The Round Table of Sustainable Palm Oil, RSPO) involving all participants in the industrial agricultural commodity value chain has defined what sustainable agriculture really should mean. The challenging goal to develop, implement and verify credible global standards for sustainable palm oil products has finally been achieved. The principles and criteria for sustainable palm oil are in the implementation process and this year the first products are available according to the standards. Cognis was the first chemical supplier in membership and is until today one of the few. Its expertise in natural raw materials enables Cognis to develop concepts with its customers on how to make renewable raw materials sustainable as almost all of its raw materials from the palm tree are being sourced from RSPO members.