PROCESS FOR INTEGRATED DEMULSIFICATION AND ESTERIFICATION OF FATTY ACIDS AND DERIVATIVES THEREOF USING RESIDUAL REAGENTS AND SIMULTANEOUS ALCOHOL RECOVERY AND WATER REMOVAL

摘要

The present invention relates to the destabilization of fatty acid and water emulsions for subsequent use thereof as raw material in esterification reactions in the presence of short-chain alcohols, making use of the remaining acid used in the demulsification step as a catalyst. Furthermore, the esterification process uses simultaneous alcohol and water distillation during the esterification reaction and also uses phase separation in the reaction medium for removing the aqueous phase and thus to facilitate esterification conversion. Use of the present invention allows the size of equipment to be smaller, lower consumption of energy and reagents and also a shorter overall processing time, but greater conversion into products when compared with currently available esterification techniques. Furthermore, the present invention is capable of processing raw materials with a high acidity index that are therefore difficult or impossible to market, such as those present in sewage scum and in restaurant grease traps.