The application of renewable feedstocks and their efficient
processing are crucial in the development of sustainable
processes. Fatty esters, which are formed in the transesterification of vegetable oils, provide new building-blocks for
sustainable chemical and biochemical processes. However,
nowadays fatty esters are mainly used as biodiesel, which
is a promising alternative fuel based on renewable resources
(Demirbas, 2008; Sims et al., 2008; Martinez-Hernandez et al.,
2014). Biodiesel offers various environmental benefits like
a drastic reduction of carbon dioxide emissions compared
to fossil fuels (van Gerpen, 2005); it is biodegradable and non-toxic. Furthermore, the combustion properties are similar to petroleum based diesel, and the integration into the
existing infrastructure of fossil fuels is easy (Lotero et al., 2005;
Sadhukhan and Ng, 2011)