3236.     ---------------.  [SPAGHT, M. E.]  Manufacture of Synthetic Butter.  CIOS Rept. XXXI-79, 1945, 5 pp., PB 23,753.  TOM Reel 199; U. S. Naval Technical Mission in Europe Rept. 144-145.

        During the war, a synthetic butter was manufactured by the Deutsche Fettsäure Werke in Witten, Germany.  The output of finished product was 11,000 lb. per day.  The process involved the oxidation of Fischer-Tropsch wax paraffins at 230° F., with a KMnO₄ catalyst to produce straight-chain fatty acids of C₁₁ and C₁₂ and their esterification with glycerine to yield edible esters.  The esterification was catalyzed with 0.2% of finely divided Sn or Zn.  The resulting ester mixture was refined and purified, giving a product with all the outward appearance of natural butter; the same consistency and softening characteristics. Its taste was pleasant but slightly waxy.  It was sold largely to hospitals where it was favored for certain diets, and the remainder was purchased by the Army.  The product was competitive with margarine in price and could have been sold with profit at 60% of the price of natural butter.  The prevailing prices in the same market for natural butter and margarine were RM 1.6 and 0.9 per lb., respectively.  (See abs. 2176.)