Glycerolysis of Fats and Methyl Esters

The glycerolysis of methyl esters and triglycerides with crude glycerol. a coproduct from the transesterification of triglycerides, was studied. Three procedures were followed ior this conversion. The first procedure was a one-step glycerolysis with methyl esters. The second procedure was a two-step process. This proced~~re involved an initial partial glycerolysis with methyl esters, followed by fat glycerolysis. The third procedure u,as a simultaneous glycerolysis n,ith methyl esters and triglycerides. In the glycerolysis with methyl esters, the removal of methanol is vital to the production of monoand diglycerides. Methanol was removed either by drawing vacuum on the reactor or by stripping methanol out by means of an inert carrier gas (nitrogen]. Different molar ratios of methyl esters to glycerol were tested in the first two processes. At low concentration of methyi esters, total conversion oi methyl esters to monoand diglycerides was achieved. As the concentration oi methyl esters was increased, the conversion of methyl esters to mono and diglvcerides was decreased. Furthermore, the ratio of monoto diglycerides was also higher at lower roncentrations of methyl esters. The conversion of triglycerides in the two-step process with crude glycerol was similar to a one-step fat glycerolysis with pure glycerol. The composition of different coniponents and the ratio of mono to diglycerides were also comparable. IAOCS W11 9-425 (1 9973.