Patent ID: 8242295

Claim:
A process for producing a fatty alkyl ester and glycerin, comprising: (1) reacting fats and oils with a C1 to C5 lower alcohol; (2) removing the lower alcohol from the outlet product of step 1 until the lower alcohol content is reduced to 2 wt % or less; (3) separating the product obtained in step 2 into an oil phase and an aqueous phase at 70° C. or lower to obtain an oil phase having a glycerin content of 0.6 wt. % or less; (4) reacting the oil phase obtained in step 3 with a lower alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst; and (5) separating the outlet product of step 4 into an oil phase and an aqueous phase to obtain an fatty acid alkyl ester(s) and glycerin wherein said acid catalyst has a structure (A) of an inorganic phosphoric acid wherein a hydrogen atom is removed from at least one OH group thereof, a structure (B) of an organic phosphoric acid represented by formula (1) or (2) wherein a hydrogen atom is removed from at least one OH group thereof wherein —R 1 and —R 2 each represent a group selected from —R, —OR, and —H and at least one of —R 1 and —R 2 is —R or —OR provided that R is a C 1-22 organic group, and a metal atom (C).