Pelargonic Acids for Use as Salt or Ester Derivatives

Emery Oleochemicals offers pelargonic acids for a variety of applications where it is typically used in the form of a salt or ester derivative for unique functional benefits. Under the EMERY® brand name, our products are recognized for high technical performance and high quality. As a pioneer in the commercial development of pelargonic acid, our company's current line of EMERY pelargonic acids is the result of over 65 years of research and development.

EMERY® Pelargonic Acid

Our pelargonic acid derives unique performance characteristics from its odd-chain length – providing definite advantages in many quality and performance sensitive applications over other short-chain fatty acids. Potential differentiations include significantly different solubility characteristics, lower-temperature fluidity and low melting points.

The sodium and potassium salts of EMERY® 1202 and EMERY® 1203 are very soluble in water but are insoluble in most organic solvents. Most other metal salts are insoluble in water.

Amine salts and condensates prepared by reacting pelargonic acid with low molecular weight amines such as monoethanolamine or isopropanolamine are characterized with good water solubility.  These chemistries provide a multitude of potential benefits including improved corrosion inhibition and lower foaming characteristics.

The linear, highly saturated and odd-carbon structure of pelargonic acid makes it particularly suitable as the major acid component in TMP (trimethylolpropane), PE (pentaerythritol) and NPG (neopentyl glycol) polyol esters for lubricant base stocks. These classic polyol structures dominate jet engine lubricant technology and are becoming more important in synthetic lubricants for industrial and land transportation applications.