Vegetable Oils and Animal Fats as Renewable Resources for Plastics and Coatings Applications

Abstract

Total production for synthetic rubber, synthetic fibers, and plastics in the United States amounted to 3.7 × 10¹⁰ lb in 1973 [1]. Petrochemicals supplied by far the greater part of the required intermediates and added up to 5 to 6% of the total petroleum oil demand. However, the cost of imported oil will ever be increasing as petroleum reserves dwindle. For example, projected prices for petrochemicals compared to 1972 are: 20 cents/lb for ethylene by 1980 [2], an increase of 570%; 30 cents/lb for butadiene by 1984 [3], an increase of 290%; and 14 cents/lb for benzene by 1977 [4], an increase of 400%.