Author
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Taylor, Scott |
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King, Jerry |
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Submitted to: Pittsburgh Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 4/8/2000 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Tall oil is derived as a by-product from the Kraft process for wood pulping that was introduced nearly a century ago. It is a resinous material that consists mainly of rosin acids, fatty acids, and neutrals. The chemical composition of tall oil varies with the age, species, and geographical location of the coniferous trees. The resin acids are diterpene carboxylic cacids based on an alkyl-substituted perhydrophenanthrene ring structure an the fatty acids are predominantly 18-carbon, straight-chain mono-, or diunsaturated fatty acids. Essentially all of the crude tall oil produced today is refined by fractional distillation, and these fractionation products are used in a wide variety of applications. For many applications, it is necessary to know the level of the individual fatty acids and the resin acids present in these products. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and reaction (SFR) methods are becoming increasingly used, ,particularly those that employ environmentally benign supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). This interest is due to the reduction and/or elimination of organic solvents and faster derivatization times. Recently, fatty acid methyl ester formation under supercritical conditions has been reported. These investigations used an immobilized lipase to catalyze the transesterification of the lipids with methanol. In this study, SFE coupled with an enzymatically catalyzed SFR was used to assess the fatty acid and resin acid content of tall oil products. Enzymatic catalysis in SC-CO2 is specific for the fatty acids, allowing a differentiation to be made between these acid moieties and the resin acids. SFE/SFR results will be compared to traditional chemical derivatization of the tall oil products. |
