Patent ID: 7566794

Claim:
A method for catalytically manufacturing fatty acid ethyl esters from vegetable or animal oils or fat or from other glyceride mixtures, consisting essentially of a succession of stages as follows: a stage (a) wherein the oil, the fat or the glyceride mixture is transesterified by an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst, wherein said alcohol consists essentially of ethanol and optionally a quantity of methanol derived from said catalyst, said catalyst being a soluble catalyst or a catalyst that becomes soluble during the reaction, thereby forming a mixture of esters and glycerine, a stage (b) wherein the glycerin formed is decanted from said mixture of esters and glycerine and removed to obtain an ester product, a stage (c) wherein a second transesterification reaction is carried out on the ester product from stage (b) with ethanol in the presence of a catalyst so as to obtain an ester product whose ester contents is at least 97% by mass, a stage (d) wherein the ester product from stage (c) is subjected to evaporation of excess ethanol said evaporation being carried out in the presence of a catalyst in a falling film type evaporator at a temperature below 120° C. and with a residence time below 1 minute thereby preventing a reverse transesterification reaction, the ethanol obtained being then practically anhydrous, a stage (e) wherein the ester product from stage (d) undergoes purification by means of water wash sequences, and a stage (f) wherein the ester product from stage (e) is dried under reduced pressure.