Continuous production of fatty acid methyl esters from soybean oil deodorized distillate and methyl acetate at supercritical conditions

This work aimed to investigate the continuous production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) from soybean oil deodorizer distillate (SODD) and methyl acetate (MA) under supercritical conditions. The influence of temperature (275-300-325 ?C), MA:SODD mass ratio (0.5:1-1:1-2:1) and residence time (7.5-10-20-30-40 min) were analyzed in the FAME and triacetin (TA) production. Thermal decomposition phenomenon of esters at high temperatures and mass transfer were verified. Residence time of 10 min showed promised results in all experimental conditions. The most suitable condition was 300 ?C, MA:SODD molar ratio of 1:1 and residence time of 10 min, which allowed to obtain a 87.7% FAME yield. A 38,51% thermal decomposition was observed at 325 ?C and 0.5:1 MA:SODD mass ratio in 40 min. Thus, SODD with methyl acetate showed to be efficient, enabling the occurrence of acid transesterification and interesterification reactions.