Introduction
The acid esterification unit is designed to convert oleins coming from glycerine purification (unit 6166P) and/or fatty acids/oil from battery limit to methylesters according to the following reaction:
| R-CO-OH | + | CH3OH | CH3-O-CO-R | + | H2O | |
| Fatty Acid | Methanol | Methylester | Water |
The esterification reaction is accomplished in continuous using a tubular reactor (6191A1) operating at 110-130 °C and 8-10 barg.
The catalyst of the reaction is sulphuric acid (H2SO4), supplied as 98% aqueous solution.
Advantages
The Desmet Acid Esterification Unit allows to totally recovering the oleins produced as by-product of the upstream process unit converting them into methylesters.
The main advantage of this technology is the economical profit resulting from the conversion of low quality by-product (oleins) into a higher profitable product (methylester) to be blended with oil fed to transterification process.