(AP) -- Scientists unveiled on Tuesday what they hope will be one of the world's fastest biofuel vehicles, powered by waste from chocolate factories and made partly from plant fibers.
Energy & Green Tech
May 5, 2009
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Vegans and vegetarians have long argued their approach to eating is the kindest—to animals and to our planet.
Ecology
Feb 15, 2023
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Scientists working to increase soybean oil content tend to focus their efforts on genes known to impact the plant's seeds, but a Purdue University study shows that genes affecting other plant parts deserve more attention.
Plants & Animals
Jan 4, 2018
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A breakthrough by CSIRO-led scientists has made the world's strongest material more commercially viable, thanks to the humble soybean.
Nanomaterials
Feb 15, 2017
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1982
(PhysOrg.com) -- In addition to being a novelty food, alligators could also provide a feedstock for biodiesel. Every year, the alligator meat industry disposes of about 15 million pounds of alligator fat in landfills. Now ...
Consumers shouldn't assume that, because a product is organic, it's also environmentally friendly.
Ecology
Jun 22, 2010
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A Queen's University chemistry professor has invented a special solvent that may make cooking oil production more environmentally friendly.
Materials Science
Mar 29, 2010
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Cars powered by chocolate, steered by carrots with drivers sitting on soybean oil foam seats - it's motor racing's cheap, cheerful and environmentally-friendly series of the future.
Energy & Green Tech
Jun 30, 2009
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Biodiesel is not likely to replace gasoline as the main source of transportation fuel in most of our lifetimes. But researchers at Wake Forest University are convinced that they have a formula for a catalyst that could lower ...
Energy & Green Tech
May 4, 2009
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Speakers at last week’s AAAS meeting presented abundant evidence that tropical rainforest destruction has accelerated in recent years, at least in part because of the worldwide push to produce more biofuels.
Energy & Green Tech
Feb 23, 2009
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In processing soybeans for oil extraction and subsequent soy flour production, selection of high quality, sound, clean, dehulled yellow soybeans is very important. Soybeans having a dark colored seed coat, or even beans with a dark hilum will inadvertently leave dark specks in the flour, and are undesirable for use in commercial food products. All commercial soybeans in the United States are yellow or yellow brown.
To produce soybean oil, the soybeans are cracked, adjusted for moisture content, rolled into flakes and solvent-extracted with commercial hexane. The oil is then refined, blended for different applications, and sometimes hydrogenated. Soybean oils, both liquid and partially hydrogenated, are exported abroad, sold as "vegetable oil," or end up in a wide variety of processed foods. The remaining soybean husks are used mainly as animal feed.
The major unsaturated fatty acids in soybean oil triglycerides are 7% alpha-Linolenic acid (C-18:3); 51% linoleic acid (C-18:2); and 23% oleic acid (C-18:1). It also contains the saturated fatty acids 4% stearic acid and 10% palmitic acid.
Soybean oil has a relatively high proportion, 7–10%, of oxidation-prone linolenic acid, which is an undesirable property for continuous service, such as in a restaurant. In the early nineties, Iowa State University developed soybean oil with 1% linolenic acid in the oil. Three companies, Monsanto Company, DuPont/Bunge, and Asoyia in 2004 introduced low linolenic, (C18:3; cis-9, cis-12, cis-15 octadecatrienoic acid) Roundup Ready soybeans. In the past, hydrogenation was used to reduce the unsaturation in linolenic acid, but this produced the unnatural trans-fatty acid configuration, whereas in nature the configuration is cis (see trans fat). This external picture from North Dakota State University compares soybean oil fatty acid content with other oils.
In the 2002–2003 growing season, 30.6 million tons of soybean oil were produced worldwide, constituting about half of worldwide edible vegetable oil production, and thirty percent of all fats and oils produced, including animal fats and oils derived from tropical plants.
While soybean oil has no direct insect repellent activity, it is used as a fixative to extend the short duration of action of essential oils such as geranium oil in several commercial products.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
