Patent ID: 8501974

Claim:
A process for producing alkyl fatty esters and glycerin from fats/oils and a C1 to C5 lower alcohol(s) by a multistage reaction process, which comprises a step of feeding liquid fats and oils to a reactor provided with a catalyst at an upper stage and sending them to a stage at a downstream side, while feeding a liquid lower alcohol to a reactor at a lower most stage and simultaneously returning a lower alcohol recovered from an outlet of the reactor to a stage at an upstream side, thereby repeating the reaction which further comprises steps of separating a lower alcohol(s) from reaction products comprising fats and oils obtained from the reactor at an upper stage and subjecting the resulting liquid component to oil/water separation to remove glycerin at a stage of the reactor between an upper stage and a lower stage wherein a stoichiometric quantity of lower alcohol in terms of a molar ratio of lower alcohol to fats and oils, calculated as triglycerides, is from 1.5 to 15, wherein the reaction is conducted at a temperature ranging from 60° C. to 200° C. and at a pressure ranging from 0.5 to 8 MPa, and wherein the degree of formation of said alkyl fatty ester is 86.9% or more.