How is fatty alcohol made, and why has direct fatty acid hydrogenation become the dominant route?

How is fatty alcohol made, and why has direct fatty acid hydrogenation become the dominant route?
The C12-14 grade, built mainly from lauryl and myristyl alcohol, dominates global demand at over 500 million tons of annual output, with more than 95 percent derived from palm kernel or coconut oil. The chain starts with high-pressure hydrolysis of the oil into mixed fatty acids, followed by multi-column fractional distillation to isolate a C12-C14 cut at 99 percent purity. The core step is continuous fixed-bed hydrogenation at 20-30 MPa and 240-300 degrees Celsius over copper-chromium or copper-zinc-aluminium catalysts, converting the carboxyl group to a primary hydroxyl. Single-pass conversion exceeds 99 percent with selectivity above 97 percent, and the only byproduct is process water. Most large plants have abandoned the older two-step methyl ester route.