Cholesterol-fat-esters are useful as a source of cholesterol and 

 fatty acids which are recovered by employment of a comparatively simple 

 hydrolytic process. 



Uses 



Specific fats and mixtures of them are widely used for a great 

 number of different purposes. Simple saturated fats are used in the follow- 

 ing industries, food, baking, cosmetic, soap making, ajid chemical, to 

 name a few. Unsaturated fats are used for the preparation of dr:/ing oils 

 for use in paints, enamels, and lacquers. Unsaturated fats are often 

 hydrogenated in order to harden them and to Improve certain properties. 

 These hydrogenated fats then serve in the cooking and baking processes, 

 and as a source of the various fatty acids which are subsequently used 

 in very large amounts in various manufacturing industries such as tire 

 making* etc. Phospholipids, such as lecithin, are useful for a number of 

 different purposes. Lecithin has wide usage in the chocolate, cosmetic, 

 margarine, soap, baking and other industries. Lecithin also possesses 

 properties which make it valuable as an antioxidant for oils and fats. 

 Cholesterol finds many importajit uses in industry. It is used extensively 

 in cosmetic articles and pharmaceuticals. Recent progress in scientific 

 research has developed efficient methods for preparing biologically active 

 vitamin D^ from cholesterol. This process requires a cholesterol of high 

 purity. Much of the cholesterol for vitamin D3 manufacture is prepared 

 from the spinal cords of meat animals. 



Present sources of raw material 



Fats, lipids, and cholesterol are being manufactured from a large 

 number of animal and vegetable tissues. The possibility of utilizing sal- 

 mon cannery waste as a source of fish oil for ordinary industrial use or 

 as a source of vitamin A is considered elsewhere in this report. This 

 section therefore will limit the discussion of fats and lipids to new or 

 special products derived from oils and fats or to substances associated 

 with oils and fats present in the salmon cannery waste. Discussion will 

 be restricted mainly to cholesterol, lecithin, and unsaturated fatty acids. 



Cholesterol is produced from a variety of materials. Spinal cords 

 of meat animals are used to prepare a pure cholesterol for the subsequent 

 manufacture of synthetic vitamin D^. Cholesterol is also obtained from 

 vegetable oils and from wool fat. a recent report in the technical 

 literature states that a new method has been developed to produce pure 

 cholesterol on a large scale from wool fat. Lecithin is produced largely 

 from vegetable oils, soybean being the one most commonly used. Special 

 unsaturated fatty acids are obtained from many vegetable oils although 

 marine oils have recently been used to some extent for this purpose. 



22 



