THE UTILIZATION OF CHERRY BY-PRODUCTS. 



11 



The insoluble acids comprise the largest portion of all fixed oils, 

 and these were studied in detail by resolving them into the solid and 

 liquid acids of which they are composed. The nature of the solid 

 and liquid acids of an oil is of importance, since upon the percentage 

 of these respective acids depends largely the application of the oil in 

 commerce, whether it can be used for edible purposes, for soap mak- 

 ing, or as a drying oil. 



The separation of the solid and liquid acids was accomplished by 

 the lead-ether method. 1 The efficacy of this method depends upon 

 the solubility in cold ether of the lead salts of the liquid acids and the 

 insolubility of the same salts of the solid acids. After the separation 

 of the solid and liquid acids the physical and chemical properties of 

 each were determined, from which the approximate composition of 

 the oils was deduced. 



The foregoing methods were applied to the crude oil which was ex- 

 tracted from the pits of the domestic cherries by ether; also to the re- 

 fined oil from the pits and to the expressed oil from the kernels. The 

 results of these determinations are given in Table III. 



Table III. — Chemical characteristics of the oils from cherry pits and kernels. 



Source of oil. 



Volatile 

 acid, or 



Reichert- 

 Meissl 



number. 



Soluble 

 acids (cal- 

 culated as 



butyric 

 acid). 



Insoluble 

 acids. 



Acetyl 

 value. 



Unsaponi- 

 fiable. 



Cherry pits (red sour cherries): 



Percent. 

 6.32 

 3.665 

 4.72 



Per cent. 



1.22 



.473 



.469 



Per cent. 

 92 

 92.5 

 92.8 



20.3 

 3.45 

 12.67 



Per cent. 

 2.45 





1.12 





.44 







The data in Table III clearly show the effect of the refining process 

 upon the composition of the oils. The refined oil from the pits more 

 nearly approaches the expressed oil from the kernels. As would be 

 expected, the content of volatile acids is highest in the crude oil from 

 the pits, while the refined oil differs only slightly in this respect from 

 the kernel oil. 



The percentage of soluble acids, calculated as butyric acid, de- 

 creases much the same as the volatile acids. The crude pit oil shows 

 1.22 per cent of butyric acid, which in the refined oil is reduced 

 to 0.473 per cent. The refined oil nearly corresponds with the 

 kernel oil. 



The insoluble acids, which constitute by far the greatest portion 

 of the oil, show only slight differences in the three oils. 



The acetyl values given represent the true values after correction 

 for the volatile acids. If indicated without correction they would 

 be too high by the amount of volatile acids present. Here, also, is 



1 Wiley, II. W\. op. cit, p. 142. 14.". 



