Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunner  This is what Kogarah Council is proposing.
The Trans Fats are not a new type of synthetic cooking oil, they are a byproduct of treating otherwise "Difficult to find a commercial use" oils for commercial uses. The "Trans' is actually short for Transesterified, that is, the exact same process we use to make Biodiesel. By treating various vegetable oils by hydrogenation, they can be used in Margarines and Cooking Oils. While the treated fats are now more useful at room temps, it is an unfortunate issue that the transesterified fats are harmful to the human body, with studies linking them to increased Cholesterol levels and increased Heart Disease. It is this same process of hydrogenation that BP are using for their Biodiesel production.
If you can find cooking oil with high levels of Trans Fats, some of your BD conversion is already done for you, but expect a poorer yeild per litre, as the base stock oil is harder to "Crack". |
Actually, trans fatty acids (and fats) are so named because of the "trans" double bonds in the acid chains, rather than "cis" bonds. It has nothing to do with transesterification whatsoever. Hydrogenation is a process by which they add hydrogen to the double bonds, in order to remove them. It changes the degree of "saturation" of the fats (which, in laymans terms, is how full the chain is with hydrogen atoms).
In regard to the proposed ban, I don't think the problem is that they are synthetic, as a synthetic molecule should for all intents and purposes, be identical to one extracted from a plant. I would suggest that the issue is more likely to be simply that they are
trans fats, which are generally considered less healthy.