Hydroxy fatty acids have great interest to the industry because of their different behaviour compared with ordinary fatty acids. Currently, the main source of hydroxy acids provide by nature is castor oil. This oil is not available in Malaysia and because of that, studies were initiated to produce the compound by other means. C18:1 fraction of palm kernel oil-based crude oleic acid, a low value coproduct produced during the production of C12 -14 acids is an important raw material for preparing hydroxy acids. The C18:1 fraction in the commercial palm-based crude oleic acid in Malaysia is between 70% – 78%.

Main Research:  Parthiban Siwayanan