Fatty acids
Fatty acids split from palm, palm kernel, coconut, tallow and tall oil feed soaps, cosmetics, tyres and plastics; about 11.7 Mt of demand in 2024.
Bio-based chemicals · Oleochemicals · No. 106
- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Crops and biomass
- 11.7 Mt demand (2024); capacity about 14 Mt in 2024 (derived) rising to 18.1 Mt by 2027
- 3.5 t CO₂e per t
- HS 382311, 382319
Your soap, your car tyres and your lipstick may all share molecules split from the same palm fruit.
Chart: Illustration: Fatty acids
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Oils and fats are split with hot water at about 250°C and 50 bar, then distilled into cuts such as lauric and stearic acid.
Three things to know
- Splitting a tonne of oil with water releases about 0.1 t of glycerine alongside the fatty acids.
- Wilmar alone holds about 13% of world fatty acid capacity, and four palm groups together hold over a third.
- India imported 567 kt of industrial fatty acids in 2024, worth $558 million.
The journey
- 1 Oils and fatsPalm, palm kernel, coconut, tallow, tall oil
- 2 Fat splittingWater and oil at 250°C, 50 bar
- 3 DistillationCut by chain length, C8 to C18
- 4 HydrogenationOptional hardening into stearic acid
- 5 DerivativesSoaps, esters, stearates, amines, fatty alcohols