Palmitic acid World War II to produce napalm. The word "napalm" is derived from the words naphthenic acid and palmitic acid. Palmitic acid was discovered by Edmond Frémy in 1840, in saponified palm oil. This remains the primary industrial route for its production, with the triglycerides (fats) in palm oil being hydrolysed by high temperature water (above ), and the resulting mixture fractionally distilled to give the pure product. Palmitic acid is naturally produced by a wide range of other plants and organisms, typically at low levels. It is naturally present in butter, cheese, milk, and meat, as well as cocoa butter,
Copper naphthenate adhesion promoters, lubricant additives, and catalysts where oil solubility is required. Naphthenic acid is a complex group of carboxylic acids with the general formula CHO where n indicates the carbon number and z specifies the hydrogen deficiency resulting from ring formation. Naphthenic acids occur naturally in crude oil at varying concentrations, and their composition varies with the crude oil composition and the conditions during refining. Crude oils with total acid number (TAN) as little as 0.5 mg KOH/g acid or petroleum fractions greater than about 1.0 mg KOH/g oil usually qualify as a high acid crude or oil. At the