METHOD FOR PRODUCING FATTY ACID LOWER ALKYL ESTER

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing a fatty acid lower alkyl ester in high yield by which the amount of a residual fatty acid is reduced when the fatty acid lower alkyl ester is produced from the fatty acid and a lower alcohol. SOLUTION: The fatty acid and the lower alcohol in a gaseous state are brought into contact by countercurrent operations in a fixed bed filled with a weakly acidic solid catalyst or brought into contact by cocurrent operations and the countercurrent operations are then performed or pseudocountercurrent operations are carried out to provide the fatty acid lower alkyl ester when the fatty acid and the lower alcohol are fed to a fixed bed-reactor filled with the weakly acidic solid catalyst and reacted.