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Submitted to: No Tillage National Congress in Argentina
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 7/22/2004 Publication Date: 8/10/2004 Citation: Erhan, S.Z. 2004. Industrial applications of soybean oil. No Tillage National Congress in Argentina. p. 329-332. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Vegetable oils are used in various industrial applications such as emulsifiers, lubricants, plasticizers, surfactants, plastics, solvents and resins. Research and development approaches take advantage of the natural properties of these oils. Vegetable oils have superb environmental credentials, such as being inherently biodegradable, having low eco-toxicity and low toxicity towards humans, being derived from renewable resources and contributing to no volatile organic chemicals (VOC). At the Food and Industrial Oil Research Unit (ARS, USDA, NCAUR), our principle efforts focus on modifying the chemical and physical properties of vegetable oils (emphasizing soybean oil) to enhance their use as an additive or as a major component of value-added industrial products. One area is the preparation of 100% vegetable oil-based ink vehicles and formulations. They are cost competitive with petroleum-based inks and have better quality factors and environmental properties, such as biodegradability, lower VOC and good deinkability. A second area is the chemical modification of vegetable oils to give properties necessary for biodegradable lubricant base stocks. Improvements in oxidative stability and low temperature performance are the key focus areas. A third area is the development of composites by the solid freeform fabrication method. The freeform fabrication method builds materials by the repetitive addition of thin layers. This approach is applied to build parts from a mixture of epoxidized vegetable oil and epoxy resin, which are modified with a gelling agent to solidify the materials until curing occurs. The high strength composites are formed through fiber reinforcement. |
