In: Acetate ISBN: 978-1-62808-565-5 Editor: David A. Sanders © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Chapter 6 PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL THROUGH INTERESTERIFICATION OF TRIGLYCERIDES WITH METHYL ACETATE Abraham Casas * , María Jesús Ramos # and Ángel Pérez † Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute for Chemical and Environmental Technologies (ITQUIMA), University of Castilla-La Mancha Ciudad Real, Spain ABSTRACT In recent years, there has been great interest in substituting fossil fuels with biofuels. Bioethanol and biodiesel are alternatives, currently in the commercial phase, that can replace gasoline and diesel, respectively. Biodiesel comes from the triglycerides contained in vegetable oils and animal fats, which cannot be used directly in diesel engines because of their high viscosity. The production of biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters) is based on the transesterification reaction of triglycerides with methanol. In this process, low purity glycerol is formed as a byproduct, reducing the economy of the process. To improve this, methanol can be replaced by methyl acetate, which would yield a higher value added product, glycerol triacetate (also called triacetin). Unlike glycerol, triacetin is completely soluble in the biodiesel, which allows their mutual mixing for use as fuel in diesel engines. The reaction between triglycerides and methyl acetate is known as interesterification and consists of three consecutive reversible reactions. Due to their high reversibility, intermediates, such as acetates of mono- and diglycerides, are found in the reaction mixture. With respect to their counterparts in the transesterification (mono-and diglycerides), these compounds are more compatible with commercial biodiesel-diesel blends. In this work, the main aspects of the interesterification reaction of triglycerides with methyl acetate have been reviewed. Moreover, the main characteristics of the acetates of * E-mail address: abraham.casasgm@gmail.com # E-mail address: mariajesus.ramos@uclm.es † E-mail address: angel.perez@uclm.es Complimentary Contributor Copy