Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft

Bruno Kukla

Siegfried Billenstein

Herbert Stuhler

A process for the preparation of fatty acid esters of short-chain primary and secondary alcohols with 1 to 5 carbon atoms by transesterification of glycerides with the said short-chain alcohols is described. In this process, a stream of the gaseous alcohol is passed through the liquid glyceride at temperatures of at least 210.degree. C. and the product mixture of gylcerol and fatty acid alkyl ester is discharged from the reaction zone with this stream and is then subjected to phase separation.

Process for the preparation of fatty acid esters of short-chain alcohols

Glycerol and aliphatic nitriles are simultaneously produced by treating liquid glycerides with gaseous ammonia at a rate of at least 200 liters of ammonia per kilogram of glyceride per hour at temperatures of from 220.degree. to 300.degree. C. in the presence of metal salts of carboxylic or sulfonic acids as catalysts and subjecting the product mixture to a phase separation into a nitrile phase and a glycerol/water phase. Preferred starting materials are vegetable and animal fats and oils.

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Munich, Georgia

Bruno Kukla