Two commercial cottonseed meals, a direct solvent-extracted meal and a screw-pressed meal, were subjected to successive solvent-extraction procedures by using an acetone/hexane/water azeotrope to reduce their cyclopropenoid fatty acid content. The two original commercial meals, as well as a double-and triple-extracted portion, were then incorporated at 20 wt % levels in the rations of laying hens. A negative control containing 25% soybean meal and a positive control containing 2 % refined cottonseed oil of known CPA content were also employed. During a fourweek feeding period the eggs were collected during the third and fourth week and stored at 35F for periods of three and six months. Overall egg quality and the fatty acid distribution of the extracted yolk lipids were determined after the three-and six-month storage period.

Chemical inactivation of cyclopropenoid fatty acids in commercial cottonseed meals was explored with three classes of compounds : anhydrous gases, organic acids and sulfhydryl compounds. Of the reagents screened, sulfur dioxide reduced the cyclopropenoid content by over 90% while free cottonseed fatty acids and thioglycollic acid reduced the cyclopropenoid fatty acid content by over 30%. Large batches of the above three selected meals, as well as a control commercial screw-pressed meal, were then incorporated at 20 wt % levels in the rations of laying hens. A negative control containing 25% soybean meal and a positive control containing a 2% refined cottonseed oil of known CPA content were also employed. During a four-week feeding period, eggs were collected during the third and fourth week and stored at 35 F for periods of 3 and 6 months. Overall egg quality and the fatty acid distribution of the yolk lipids were determined after the 3 and 6 months' storage periods.

Pure ethanol and its mixtures with water were used as extraction solvents for two Israeli's oil shales. Using bioethanol-like mixtures to produce organic matter from oil shales made the extraction process environmentally friendlier, while simultaneously enriched the ethanol to a level that it can be used as a fuel. It was found that oil shale characteristics, such as organic and water content and particle size, as well as extraction parameters such as shale loading and mixing speed, were found to highly affect the extraction yield. Under optimum conditions up to 8 wt% of organic matter was extracted by ethanol.

A rapid analytical procedure for determining the residual cyclopropenoid fatty acids (CPA) in cottonseed meal has been developed. The procedure involves room‐temperature extraction of crude CPA‐containing lipids with a hexane‐water‐acetone azeotrope solvent, followed by a benzenemethanol wash. The crude lipids are then converted to methyl esters by methanolysis with sodium methoxide. Extraction with petroleum ether, followed by washing with aqueous acetone, results in a substance which is free from interfering materials. The purified methyl esters are then analyzed for CPA by a spectrophotometric modification of the Halphen reaction.

Direct solvent-extraction procedures were explored for their effectiveness in removing the residual levels of cyclopropenoid fatty acids from commercial cottonseed meals. Of the seven solvent systems screened, a simple stepwise extraction with an acetone/hexane/water azeotrope was found suitable for the removal of up to 88% of the original CPA content of the meal.