Crops and the Chemical

MORE THAN a billion dollars' worth of farm products are sold each year to the chemical industry, whose production totals about 40 bil- lion pounds a year. It ranks fifth among all industries in annual dollar , after the food, transportation, , and base industries. Its products are sold to every section of American industry and include fibers, surface coatings, and , , rubbers, medicináis, , , , , , , antifreezes, , , preservatives, flavorings, photographic chemicals, refrigerants, - soluble gums, and driers. We believe the chemical industry could be a much greater market for farm . Brakes on such expansion have been fluctuations in prices and supplies. Besides, chemical manufacturers have turned to raw materials derived from petroleum, , and , and industrial research has yielded raw materials of low cost, high qual- ity, excellent stability, and dependable supply. These have cut deeply into the markets for agricultural products. Examples are the loss of markets to synthetic detergents, the invasion of and cot- ton markets by synthetic fibers, and the use of sheet plastics in place of . The complex carbohydrates, proteins, and fats and the lesser constituents of farm crops have characteristics different from those of other raw materials. It is possible technically to man- ufacture most of the end products of the synthetic organic chemical industry from agricultural raw materials, but in most instances the economics favor the petroleum raw materials. In planning a rational utilization program, therefore, we can take advantage of the unique properties the constituents of agricultural crops have. These mate- rials can be used to manufacture new and different high-volume or high-priced products that cannot be prepared from other raw materials at less cost. New research into the utilization of farm products has demon- strated that lost markets can be regained and new and better ones developed. Improved processing and modification of chemical and physical traits can give farm products all the properties of the most spectacular synthetic: Cotton and wx)ol fabrics can be endowed with wash-and-wear qualities. Cotton can be made to resist weather and rot. Fat can be transformed to practical plasticizer-stabilizers, new and better surface coatings, and improved detergents. Wool can be

445 shrinkproofed, and processing wastes can be recovered and used. Fermentation can convert grain to new and more efficient feeds and feed supplements or organic acids and other raw materials for the chemical industries. Starches can be used in and . Those are a few of the accomplishments of past and ongoing re- search, which we need for a thorough understanding of the proper- ties of each agricultural . For many purposes, some crops are almost interchangeable. For others, small differences may be of vital importance. Such research is done in in Wynd- moor, Pa., Peoria, New Orleans, and Albany, Calif From them have come findings that create new outlets for farm , improvements in the quality of farm products, and new processes, which have been turned over to industrial for com- mercialization. Grains, starches, , vegetable , animal fats, naval stores, and sugar are among the materials on which we con- duct utilization research. The chemical industry uses about 1.3 billion pounds of vegetable oils each year in the manufacture of , varnishes, and other protective coatings; floor coverings; lubricants and greases; plasticizers (substances that give flexibility to plastics and make them pliable at low temperatures); and polyurcthane . Our research developed special types of chemically modified (epoxidized) fats and oils for use as plasticizers, an end use that currently uses 40 mil- lion pounds of these novel compounds. We also developed an in- ternal plasticizer, vinyl stéarate, for use in polyvinyl plastics. Unique fat- and -derived products, called acetoglycerides, have been de- veloped and can be produced in a wide range of products from liquids to nongreasy, plastic solids. Some have been marketed and used in . Others possess properties that can make them useful as plasticizers for plastic sheets or films used in food packag- ing, lubricants for food-processing equipment, and edible coating materials for foods. Other fat- and oil-derived products include sul- fated and sulfonated products, which are used as surface-active agents; tallow derivatives, used as emulsifiers and jet lubricants; dimer acid (dilinoleic acid), used in special resins as a component in nondrip gelled paints and as a for foams; a purified grade of oleic acid, used in plasticizers and other appfications; and poly- urethane foams from castor oil. Cottonseed oil soapstock—foots—once found a ready market with producers of soap and fiuty acids, before we had petroleum-based detergents, which replaced or supplemented soap in many applica- tions. This surplus, low-cost, fatty acid material, including cotton- seed as well as soybean and corn oil foots, is reacted with (wood ) on a commercial scale to yield a "methyl ester ," potentially useful in plastics and other industrial chemical products. Fifteen milhon pounds of the methyl ester product are

446 Department made these Amylose. treated chemically, forms a fibers from amylose starch from corn in fibrous material (right) that can be studies of the utilization of agricultural spun or made into a film. Amylopectin products. starch, from ordinary corn, giren the same treatment, forms a powdery sub- stance that has no film- or fiber- properties.

now marketed annually as high-energy additives for poultry and feed. Oils from the seeds of parsley, carrots, fennel, dill, and coriander contain petroselinic acid, which is different in chemi- cal composition from the fatty acids found in the common vegetable oils of commerce. Research has shown that many new chemicals made from this unique acid are suitable for use in paints, plastics, and . Many other novel oils from lesser known plants are being isolated and studied in an effort to uncover new, industrially useful products. New chemicals and protective coatings have been produced from rung oil, the ingredient in the famous lacquers of ancient , and its principal acid, eleostearic acid. Other research led to paints with built-in fungicidal and antimildew properties and superior for floor sealers, primers, enamels, and flat wall paints. Commercial paint and varnish manufacturers are making coatings based on one of them. When we react tung oil with glyc- erin—a sweet, sirupy liquid used in toiletries and as a moistening agent—we can prepare tung oil monoglycerides, which have desir- able properties as sticking agents for insecticidal sprays and as emulsi- fiers in water-emulsion paints. Its emulsifying action is fugitive— that is, after application to a surface, it can undergo air and increase the adherence of the emulsified material to the surface. About 1.7 billion pounds of and tallow are used in making soap and surface-active agents. Animal fats also are an important

447 Sheet of an aceloglyceride folded over a E. T. Rayner, of the Southern Utiliza- spatula and (left) lumps of a com- tion Division, pletely hardened fat. prepares a new type of surface coating from tuug oil.

The pilot-plant wing in the Southern Regional Research , where processes developed in a laboratory are tried out on a larger scale.

Y^^^iSÊ^^^^^^^ in the manufacture of natural glycerin. The i960 pro- duction of glycerin exceeded 300 million pounds, of which about one-half was derived from animal fats; the rest was supplied by manufacturers of synthetics. Research on pine gum rosin seeks to improve its quality and reduce its cost. An estimated 300 million pounds of rosin are used for beater in the paper industry. A new rosin size, made directly from partly neutralized pine gum, is being evaluated. Rosin are used as paint driers. Another important naval stores prod- uct is , of which the chemical industry consumes about 210 million pounds a year. Naval stores products also are being converted into pure compounds and derivatives for industrial appli- cation. Much of the synthetic GR-S '^cold" rubber for automobile tire treads uses new, peroxide-type chemicals derived from turpen- tine. These chemicals are outstanding catalysts (or initiators for the reactions) to make rubber and plastics. Another turpentine-based chemical, myrcene, is used in making ingredients of , such as geraniol, a fragrant oil normally found in geranium and rose oils. A new chemical, maleopimaric acid, produced directly from pine gum, is used in photographic processes and may find wide applications in plastics and printing inks. A process has been devel- oped to isolate levopimaric acid from pine gum. This acid is poten- tially valuable as an intermediate for the chemical industry. Fermentation research at the Department laboratories has devel- oped improved processes for the production of penicillin and beta- carotene (provitamin A); processes for the production of dextran, important as an extender for blood plasma and other uses; vege- table gums, useful in a number of products; various acids; xantho- phyll, a plant ; ; and various antibiotics, needed in the treatment of plant rust, mosaic, and fungi, to mention but a few. Sugar and molasses are also highly useful raw materials for many industries. From these complex products come dextran; fur- fural derivatives for binders, resins, and plasticizers; detergents; acids, such as citric, fumarle, and itaconic, which are necessary in products ranging from foods to chemical intermediates; resins and plastics; glycerin; adhesives of several types; and mannitol and sorbitol, which go into foods and cosmetics. Certain microbial- synthesized polysaccharides have a potential of one-half billion pounds in secondary oil recovery. The food and feed industries still offer the largest markets for agricultural commodities, but expanded utilization in those markets will be dictated by increases in popula- tion, export demand, and per capita income. Any major increase in the utilization of these commodities must come then from indus- trial utilization. That this is possible has been demonstrated during the years in which we have carried on utilization research. (C. H. Fisher and Johannes H. BruunJ

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