use of ethanol, instead of methanol like in most common processes, provides an interesting opportunity to further increase
the ecological benefits of the process, since it can be produced from renewable resources by fermentation. Scheme 1
shows the reaction equation of the esterification of oleic acid
(OAc) with ethanol (EtOH) to produce the desired product ethyl
oleate (EtO). The reaction is equilibrium-limited and water is
formed as a by-product. Most often acidic catalysts are used
to enhance the reaction rate. The boiling temperatures of the
pure components are listed in Table 1. The reaction mixture
shows non-ideal thermodynamic behaviour with a homogeneous light-boiling azeotrope being formed between ethanol
and water (see Table 2