To remove the color and the by-products, further
purification by distillation is required. Both hydrolysis and subsequent
distillation of fatty acids and glycerol are energy intensive
processes. A number of comparative environmental assessment
studies have been conducted in the past 15 years to investigate
whether using the enzymatic processes in oleochemical industry
lead to environmental improvements and assess whether
they could play a role in moving toward economic and cleaner industrial
production. All agree that enzymatic processes are favorable
to the environment compared with the traditional processes