and glycerol or glycerin. Alcoholysis of fats and oils, using methanol in the presence
of catalyst, gives a mixture of the methyl esters of the fatty acids. This procedure is called
transesterification. The product can be used as the fuel in diesel engine, known as biodiesel.
In this experiment, biodiesel will be prepared from palm oil (or any available
vegetable oil) and methanol. The by-product of the reaction is glycerol or glycerin, which
is immiscible in the newly formed esters. The crude biodiesel product requires washing
with water to remove excess alcohol, traces of alkoxide and glycerol. The products will be
identified by thin-layer chromatography.