Phase and chemical equilibria in the transesterification reaction of vegetable oils with supercritical lower alcohols

Abstract

Calculations of thermodynamic data are performed for fatty acid triglycerides, free fatty acids, and fatty acid methyl esters, participants of the transesterification reaction of vegetable oils that occurs in methanol. Using the obtained thermodynamic parameters, the phase diagrams for the reaction mixture are constructed, and the chemical equilibria of the esterification reaction of free fatty acids and the transesterification reaction of fatty acid triglycerides attained upon treatment with supercritical methanol are determined. Relying on our analysis of the obtained equilibria for the esterification reaction of fatty acids and the transesterification reaction of triglycerides attained upon treatment with lower alcohols, we select the optimum conditions for performing the reaction in practice.