ABSTRACT
The screening survey of the Northern Regional Research Center becomes even more important if one also considers the interest in developing alternative liquid fuels to replace diesel oil and other petroleum fractions for energy production. If the energy requirements for conversion are included, approximately 10% of our annual petroleum demand is used for the production of plastics, coatings, lubricants, detergents, and a host of other petrochemical materials. World production of lauric acid-containing oils totals some 7 million metric tons. Currently, no domestic source of this raw material exists. The most widespread in geographic range is Cuphea carthagenensis, which has 33% oil in its seeds and 62.5% lauric acid in the seed oil. Seed oils of the family Umbelliferae generally contain abundant amounts of petroselinic (cis-6-octadecenoic) acid. This acid can be cleaved at the double bond either through ozonolysis or other methods into lauric and adipic acids.
