Product Special
Tolyltriazole
CAS# 29385-43-1
Epoxidized Soybean Oil
CAS# 8013-07-8
Sebacic Acid
CAS# 111-20-6
L911P
CAS# 68515-43-5
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 Castor plants are used to make gopher-fences because gophers don't like Castor plant roots. (1)
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Issue 39 - December 2012
What Puts the "Ceed" in ChemCeed?
The "Ceed" part of ChemCeed's name is derived from the castor seed, a major natural and renewable feedstock for our line of castor derivative products. Castor beans grow best in hot,dry climates with sandy soil such as India or Brazil. The seed makes up about 65-85% of the bean, and from it the oil is extracted. Castor oil content can range from 35-52% depending on variety and growing conditions, and it finds aplications in everything from soap to polymers to lubricants. From castor oil many products in our line such as 12-Hydroxystearic Acid, Sebacic Acid, Disodium Sebacate, Dimethyl Sebacate and Dioctyl Sebacate are derived. These products are commonly used for complexed greases in the lubricant industry.
ESO, its oxirane number and this summer's weather
ESO, or Epoxidized Soybean Oil, takes its name from the oxygen reaction upon this unsaturated oil. Specifically, an oxygen atom creates an ether bond ( -C-O-C- ) by reacting with a double bond. The carbon to carbon bond starts as a double bond, -C=C- , and the oxygen places itself on top and amid the upper bond, linking itself to the left carbon and to the right carbon, forming a triangle between the two carbons and the oxygen. This triangular formation is called Epoxide, and also oxirane.
If you oxygenate an oil with double bonds (unsaturated) such as soybean oil, it will form an oxirane at each double bond site. You can calculate how many oxiranes per molecule and you can label it as xyz % oxirane (on weight to weight %). The usual specification for ESO for the flexible pvc industry is 6.8% minimum.
Now to the soybean oil: this oil contains saturated fats and unsaturated fats. The unsaturated fats contain fatty acids that have all have 18 carbons with either one double bond, two double bonds or three double bonds. These fatty acids can be referred to as C18-1, C18-2 or C18-3. Here is the weather part: the hot, dry weather we have had inhibits the formation of C18-3 and C18-2 so this crop of soybean oil has fewer double bonds and it is indeed showing a lower oxirane number upon oxidation.
If you must have ESO with oxirane number higher than 6.8%, 6.9 or 7.0, ChemCeed can lot select material but the supply may be limited. The only good news here is that this is a temporary situation and next summer we hope to return to more normal weather patterns.
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