The vegetable oil economy is growing and the availability of biodiesel around the World is increasing.

Ingredient or component          

Vegetable oils are used as an ingredient or component in many manufactured products.

Many vegetable oils are used to make soaps, skin products, perfumes and other personal care and cosmetic products.

Some oils are particularly suitable as drying agents, and are used in making paints and other wood treatment products. Dammar oil (a mixture of linseed oil and dammar resin), for example, is used almost exclusively in treating the hulls of wooden boats.

Vegetable oils are increasingly being used in the electrical industry as insulators as vegetable oils are non-toxic to the environment, biodegradable if spilled and have high flash and fire points. However, vegetable oils have issues with chemical stability (there has to be a tradeoff with biodegradability), so they are generally used in systems where they are not exposed to oxygen and are more expensive than crude oil distillate. Two examples are FR3 by Cooper Power and Biotemp by ABB. Midel 7131 by M & I materials is a synthetic tetraester, like a vegetable oil but with four fatty acid chains compared to the normal three found in a natural ester, and is manufactured by an alcohol plus acid reaction. Tetraesters generally have high stability to oxidation and have found use as engine lubricants.

Vegetable oil is being used to produce bio-degradable hydraulic fluid and lubricant.

Common vegetable oil has also been used experimentally as a cooling agent in PCs.

One limiting factor in industrial uses of vegetable oils is that all such oils eventually chemically decompose turning rancid. Oils that are more stable, such as Ben oil or mineral oil, are preferred for some industrial uses.

Vegetable-based oils, like Castor oil, have been used as medicine and as lubricants for a long time prior to the discovery of crude oil and its petroleum-based derviatives (mineral oils, etc.). Castor oil has over 1000 patented industrial applications  and Castor oil is non-toxic  and quickly biodegrades; whereas, petroleum-based oils are potential health hazards, and take a very long time to biodegrade, thus can damage the environment when concentrated.

Pet food additive

Vegetable oil is used in production of some pet foods. AAFCO defines vegetable oil, in this context, as the product of vegetable origin obtained by extracting the oil from seeds or fruits which are processed for edible purposes. In some poorer grade pet foods, the oil is listed only as "vegetable oil", without specifying the particular oil.

Fuel

See: Vegetable oil used as fuel

Vegetable oils are also used to make biodiesel, which can be used like conventional diesel. Some vegetable oil blends are used in unmodified vehicles but straight vegetable oil needs specially prepared vehicles which have a method of heating the oil to reduce its viscosity.

The vegetable oil economy is growing and the availability of biodiesel around the World is increasing.

Source:Wikipedia

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