ABSTRACT
Commercial seed oils, including herbaceous and tree crops, contribute more than 450,000 metric tons annually to the industrial materials economy in the United States. Other seed oils of major importance to the fats and oils industry produced in the United States include cottonseed, sunflower, corn and peanut oils. Sunflower oil has received a great deal of attention, resulting in increased production, particularly in the Dakotas and Minnesota, and in the construction of several oil extraction plants. Vegetable oils are valuable renewable resources but may have limited future availability. Vegetable oils are readily available and their prices are depressed, but as petrochemical prices continue to increase, greater demands will be made upon vegetable oils for feedstock. Vegetable oils for diesel fuel have a number of advantages. They are liquid fuels from renewable resources and have a favorable energy input/output ratio, unless produced on irrigated land. Vegetable oils will be available for fuel and alternative chemical use only to a limited extent.
