Vegetable oils: Food versus industrial uses
By Dr. Selim Erhan, TLT Editor | TLT From the Editor May 2023
Although there are concerns for our environment, there are new balances that offset potential issues.
Sustainability, lowering greenhouse gases and establishing a safer environment are all subjects that are rising to a higher level of concern.
Using renewable raw materials is one of the key components of lowering our carbon footprint. Currently there are several studies that are looking at options such as recycling, blending, capturing carbon dioxide and, of course, using biobased materials such as vegetable oils, gums, sugars, fibers, shells, lecithin, biobased glycerin, propylene glycol and many more. There has been some concern about vegetable oils, so I would like to discuss them in this column.
Vegetable oils are valuable alternatives in several industrial applications. They have been successfully used as process oils in tires, rejuvenating agents in asphalt, lubricity additives, agricultural sprays, dedusting agents, mold release agents in construction, hydraulic fluids, transformer oils—and the list goes on. Castor oil, which is a hydroxy oil, has more functionality than other vegetable oils and finds use in more than 100 different industries. Vegetable oils can be converted into other useful raw materials such as fatty acids for soaps, personal care and emulsifiers. Polymerized oils and epoxidized oils go into specialty applications such as lubricants, paints and coatings. They can be formed into esters such as biodiesel, estolides, diesters and more. Vegetable oils and their derivatives also are cheaper and, most of the time, higher performing than synthetic counterparts.
While scientists are working on finding new use areas, societies also are looking toward the future and have started voicing some concerns. Some are related to clearing forests to obtain new land for farming. Burning forests to open land for new plantations started endangering rain forests that also are home to many valuable species. Some of these species have medicinal properties; some are new food sources. Some we don’t even know what they were created for. But we know every species has a purpose and gives clues on how to solve certain problems. If we had not seen birds flying, I doubt if we would have thought of air travel! Unfortunately, there are not enough scientists working on discovering the values that are available to us through plants and other creatures. For instance, there is a plant root in Africa that, if boiled, provides protection from pregnancy for three months. No side effects, no hormones, no doubts about cancer! There is a flower in the Amazon jungles whose nectar immediately stops earaches and infections. There are so many more examples, which is still a very tiny fraction of what we know. Even worse, from among the plant remedies/ natural remedies we know, most of them never make it to the people who need them, as they don’t generate patents or monopolies. This tells us that we need to put more effort into finding values before the sources are lost.
These are valid concerns, and the chemical industry, in turn, is responding by obtaining sustainability certifications and taking measures to educate the public in cases where the concerns are not valid. In one example, in South Asia, where there is a threat of deforestation, there has been steadily increasing global cooperation to stop harmful expansion. Palm and coconut oils are widely used in industry. Farmers in countries that grow these trees have been inclined to reclaim land from jungles such as in Borneo. The burning had become so intense that the smoke covered several neighboring countries. The rare species were endangered. In response, the governments of Malesia and Indonesia, together with industry groups from around the world, have formed consortiums like Malaysian and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO and ISPO) or Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) that watch out and stop buying from farmers who are continuing to burn forests.
Then there are other questions and concerns over industrial uses diverting vegetable oils away from food uses. This is especially worrisome to countries in Europe, which have more limited lands for agriculture compared to countries like the U.S., Canada and South America. Lack of land is not a big concern in other parts of the world where there are unused farmlands and often mismanaged farmlands and outdated irrigation systems. We can go a long way in updating management styles. There also is a very efficient and cheap global network for moving products around the globe. Another interesting fact is that, as the world population increases and economic situations improve, the consumption of meat is growing, but the oil consumption is not growing! Therefore, the agricultural industry is crushing more beans for feed, for the meal portion rather than the oil portion. The oil then becomes a byproduct. In the U.S., currently only 68% of the soybeans are used in food-related applications, and 32% are for other uses. In spite of the growing industrial use, each year about nine billion pounds of soybeans alone are left over.
Even though the landscape is constantly changing, there are new balances that offset a potential issue. An example is the recent growth of renewable diesel in diesel fuels and sustainable aviation fuel. As these volumes grow at the same time, the whole vehicle industry is undergoing changes, moving toward alternative fuels such as hydrogen or electrical power. New developments and global cooperation are increasing the potential of using renewable materials in industrial applications. The grass can be green in all lands!
Dr. Selim Erhan is director of business development for Process Oils Inc. in Trout Valley, Ill. You can reach him at serhan@processoilsinc.com.