Patent ID: 8419810

Claim:
A process for producing two families of biofuels from at least one triglyceride, formed between at least one fatty acid and glycerol, characterized in that it comprises: a reaction of at least one transesterification step in which said triglyceride is reacted by heterogeneous catalysis with at least one primary monoalcohol selected from methanol and ethanol to produce a mixture of at least one methyl and/or ethyl ester of the fatty acids of the starting triglyceride(s) as first biofuel, and glycerol, separating heterogeneous catalyst from said mixture, wherein the heterogeneous catalyst comprises any of a mixture of titanium oxide and alumina having the following formula: (TiO x2 ) y2 (Al 2 O 3 ) I-y2 x2 having a value of 1.5 to 2.2 and y2, representing the weight ratio of the two oxides, having a value of 0.0005 to 1; a mixture of antimony oxide and alumina having the following formula: (SbO x3 ) y3 (Al 2 O 3 ) I-y3 x3 having a value of 1.2 to 2.6 and y3, representing the weight ratio of the two oxides, having a value of 0.005 to 0.995; a mixture of zinc oxide, titanium oxide and alumina having the following formula: [(ZnO) a —(TiO 2 ) b ] y4 [Al 2 O 3 ] I-y4 a having a value in the range 0.5 to 5, b having a value in the range 0.5 to 5 and y4 having a value of 0.0005 to 1: or a mixture of oxides of bismuth and titanium or a mixture of bismuth oxide, titanium oxide and alumina having the following formula: [(Bi 2 O 3 ) a —(TiO 2 ) b ] y4 [Al 2 O 3 ] I-y4 a having a value in the range 0.5 to 5, b having a value in the range 0.5 to 5 and y4 having a value of 0.005 to 1, separating the crude glycerol from resultant mixture and subjecting the crude glycerol to a vacuum treatment to remove said at least one primary monoalcohol; and an etherification step in which the resultant vacuum treated crude glycerol is reacted directly with at least one olefinic hydrocarbon containing 4 to 12 carbon atoms to obtain at least one glycerol ether as the second biofuel; and/or an acetalization step in which the resultant vacuum treated crude glycerol is reacted directly with at least one compound selected from aldehydes, ketones and acetals derived from aldehydes or ketones, to obtain at least one glycerol acetal as the second biofuel, and directly adding the resultant etherified and/or acetalized crude vacuum treated glycerol to a fuel comprising said first biofuel.