The refining and hydrogenation of fish oils.

The Refining and the hydrogenation of fish oils in the preparation of solid fats for general industrial purposes have been in general use for a comparatively short time. So an attempt was made to determine the most satisfactory conditions for the refining of fish oils and to investigate the rate of hydrogenation of these oils in the presence of nickel catalyst. The author studied also the variation of iodine value with hydrogen absorption, the mecanism followed by the hydrogenation, as given by an interpretation of the results, and the order of the reaction. The oil used for this investigation was seal oil probably because this oil, being relatively little known in the industrial applications, possesses however many properties capable to render it very useful for different purposes. The hydrogenation was carried out at atmospheric pressure in an apparatus of the closed type. The thesis proper contains a review of the general properties of fats and a short historical account of the main workers in the field of hydrogenation. Following this is a complete description of the apparatus used and experimental procedure involved in the investigation together with a description of the results obtained with tables and graphs. The interpretation of these results and graphs is fully discussed in the section headed “Discussion”, and the conclusions are summarized under a separate heading. Full details of experimental methods and data are given in the appendices, for convenience. [...