Method of processing tall oil and products produced thereby

Claim 1

IN THE METHOD OF PRODUCING A RAPID DRYING COMPOSITION FROM A TALL OIL CONTAINING ROSIN ACIDS AND LINOLEIC ACID IN ITS NON-CONJUGATED FORM, THE STEPS OF HEATING THE TALL OIL IN THE PRESENCE OF AN ISOMERIZATION CATALYST SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF SULFUR, SULFUR DIOXIDE, AND IODINE TO CONVERT THE LINOLEIC ACID INTO A MORE READILY POLYMERIZABLE FORM, STEAMING THE RESULTING MASS TO REMOVE OBJECTIONABLE MATERIAL DERIVED FROM THE CATALYST, HEATING THE THEN RESULTING MASS TO POLYMERIZE THE POLYMERIZABLE LINOLEIC ACID AND FRACTIONALLY DISTILLING TO RECOVER A RELATIVELY NON-VOLATILE LINOLEIC ACID-RESIN ACIDS MIXTURE.