Fatty Acid Calculator

Fatty acids are the building blocks of the fat in our bodies and in the food we eat. Fatty Acid is made up of saturated or unsaturated aliphatic compounds with an even number of carbon atoms; this group of acids includes palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids. Fatty acids have the general formula C_nH_2n+₁COOH that contains a large group of monobasic acids, especially those found in animal and vegetable fats and oils.

Fatty acids can be classified into two major groups depending on the nature of the covalent bond:

• Unsaturated fatty acid (e.g. monounsaturated fatty acid, polyunsaturated fat, omega fatty acids, etc.)

• Saturated fatty acid (e.g. lauric acid, palmitic acid, etc.)

Fatty acids that have double bonds are known as unsaturated. Fatty acids without double bonds are known as saturated.

Unsaturated fatty acids have one or more double bonds between carbon atoms. (Pairs of carbon atoms connected by double bonds can be saturated by adding hydrogen atoms to them, converting the double bonds to single bonds. Therefore, the double bonds are called unsaturated.)

Saturated fatty acids are long-chain carboxylic acids that usually have between 12 and 24 carbon atoms and have no double bonds. Thus, saturated fatty acids are saturated with hydrogen (since double bonds reduce the number of hydrogens on each carbon). Because saturated fatty acids have only single bonds, each carbon atom within the chain has 2 hydrogen atoms (except for the omega carbon at the end that has 3 hydrogens).

Example:
Calculate the estimated percentage of free fatty acid.
Volume of sodium Hydroxide = 25
Normality of sodium hydroxide = 10
Equivalent factor = 30
Weight of sample = 15

Solution:
Apply Formula:
Percentage of free fatty acid = (V * N * F /weight of sample)

Percentage of free fatty acid = 500