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The objectives of this project are to (1) develop new industrial uses for cottonseed products and co-products as alternative fuel additives, biobased lubricants, and concrete-form release agents, (2) develop cost-effective methods for producing gossypol from cottonseed and cottonseed by-products, (3) develop new methods and processes for the conversion of oleic and linoleic acids, the most abundant fatty acids of cottonseed, to branched-chain, conjugated, and hydroxylated fatty acids, and (4) develop cost-effective methods for producing new value-added fatty acid-based products from cottonseed processing by developing new process methods for removing gosssypol and phospholipids from cottonseed oil miscella.
Approach: The research team will focus on developing value added uses and modified processes for cottonseed. This will be accomplished by developing cottonseed oil-based formulations that will be useful as fuel additives, lubricants, and concrete-form-releasing agents, by developing processes to remove gossypol from cottonseed miscella and processes for preparing gossypol from cottonseed and cottonseed products, by developing crystallization techniques for the preparation of chiral gossypol, and by developing new chemical approaches to convert linoleic or oleic acids into valuable conjugated, hydroxylated, and branched-chain fatty acids.