ABSTRACT
Plant oils were once the main source of aliphatic carbon compounds for industrial purposes. The advent of the petroleum industry and development of fatty acid hydrogenation during the first part of this century resulted in the rapid growth of plant oils for food use and the decline of these oils for nonfood applications. Before hydrogenation, most plant oils were previously too oxidatively unstable for food applications [1]. The advent of hydrogenation also resulted in the development of vegetable-oil-based margarine and shortenings as butter and lard replacements [2]. Thus, soybeans alone now provide about one-third of the world’s supply of plant oil, only about 2% of which is used for purposes other than food and cooking. Most nonfood soybean oil is also chemically modified (e.g., by epoxidation) for specific industrial uses such as poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) plasticizers.
