Process for the production of fatty acid methyl esters from variable feedstock using heterogeneous catalysts

摘要

A process for producing fatty acid methyl esters includes mixing an alcohol with a feedstock oil to prepare an alcohol/oil mixture, then reacting the alcohol/oil mixture using a first heterogeneous catalyst in an acid esterification process to produce a glycerin-containing product. The glycerin is separated from the glycerin-containing product using a coalescer to produce a biodiesel-containing feedstock and glycerin. Biodiesel is separated from the biodiesel-containing feedstock using a coalescer to produce unreacted feedstock and biodiesel. The unreacted feedstock is reacted using a second heterogeneous catalyst in a trans-esterification process to produce a glycerin-biodiesel-methanol mixture. Biodiesel and glycerin are separated in separate streams from the glycerin-biodiesel-methanol mixture, using a coalescer, to produce additional glycerin and additional biodiesel.