535.    ---------------.  [CHEMICAL TRADE JOURNAL AND CHEMICAL ENGINEER.]  Fatty Acids From Paraffins.  German Experience With Wartime Process.  Vol. 116, 1945, pp. 309-311; Die Chemie, vol. 57, No. 1-2, 1944, pp. 6-11.

                  Review of the article by L. Mannes (abs. 2170).  In the development of a fatty acid industry in Germany for the manufacture of soap and the production of substitutes for the natural edible fats, it was found that the principal suitable material available in Germany was the waxy, paraffinic byproduct produced in the synthesis of gasoline by the Fischer-Tropsch process.  This product at ordinary temperature is virtually wholly hydrocarbons, partly liquid and partly solid, with iso- and branched-chain compounds, these latter increasing rapidly as the number of C atoms in the Fischer-Tropsch byproduct increases.  In practice it was found that, even with the closest control of the oxidation and refining stages and the use of the choicest hydrocarbon raw material, numerous undesirable and overoxidized byproducts were produced, which lowered the yield and detracted from the qualities of the fatty acids of 10-20 C atom range.  By the introduction of improved catalysts, accurate temperature control, and the avoidance of overoxidation there has been some improvement in the quality of the desired product.  Figures quoted from laboratory investigations on the catalyst oxidation of Fischer-Tropsch paraffin wax residues show that out of a total fatty-acid yield of 55-60%, 20-25% consists of fatty acids with C atoms ranging from 1-9, and of this latter amount ½ consists of fatty acids ranging from formic to butyric.  further, about 10% of the paraffin is oxidized to CO₂ with a little CO.  From the results reported it would not appear that the production of fatty acids by paraffin oxidation is a process that holds much inducement to any country having reasonable supplies of natural fatty acids.