Method for esterification of free fatty acids in triglycerides

摘要

A method for esterification of free fatty acids with methanol. The method has steps of: (a) contacting a heterogeneous esterification catalyst in a reactor with a reaction mixture containing: (i) methanol and (ii) a triglyceride mixture containing 70-99.8 wt % triglycerides and 0.2-30 wt % free fatty acids, under conditions suitable for esterification, to produce a product stream; (b) separating water and methanol from the product stream to produce a dried product stream; (c) contacting the dried product stream with methanol to produce a methanol-rich phase and a triglyceride-rich phase; and (d) separating the methanol-rich phase and recycling it to the reactor.