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,
Naphthenic acid to oil refinery equipment; the phenomenon of "naphthenic acid corrosion" (NAC) has therefore been well researched. Crude oils with a high content of naphthenic acids are often referred to as high total acid number (TAN) crude oils or high acid crude oil (HAC). Naphthenic acids are the major contaminant in water produced from the extraction of oil from Athabasca oil sands (AOS). Naphthenic acids have both acute and chronic toxicity to fish and other organisms. In their oft-cited article published in "Toxicological Sciences" Rogers et al. stated that "naphthenic acids are the most significant environmental contaminants resulting from petroleum extraction