Methyl Esterification of Oleic Acid in Supercritical Methanol with Methyl Formate

Fatty acid methyl esters, which are used as biodiesel, can be produced by methyl esterification of fatty acids in supercritical methanol. However, in a reverse reaction, methyl esters are hydrolyzed to regenerate fatty acids due to the presence of water, which is produced by the esterification reaction, making it difficult to reduce the fatty acid content sufficiently. In this study, oleic acid was treated in supercritical methanol at 310 °C/20...