Patent ID: 8475542

Claim:
A method of producing a fuel or fuel additive comprising: mixing triglyceride and an alcohol as an oil-in-alcohol emulsion together with a catalyst, forming a reaction mixture for converting the triglyceride to said fuel or fuel additive; reacting the triglyceride and alcohol in the presence of the catalyst by continuously circulating said reaction mixture in a continuous loop reactor, to produce said fuel or fuel additive; and flowing the reaction mixture past a cross-flow selective membrane in the continuous loop reactor, said selective membrane permitting passage of said fuel or fuel additive while excluding passage of triglyceride, to continuously remove from the reaction mixture said fuel or fuel additive formed in the step of reacting, while retaining unreacted triglyceride within the reaction mixture in the continuous loop reactor; wherein said catalyst is present in the reaction mixture at a concentration below a conventional concentration of 1.0 wt %.