Process for substantially complete conversion of fatty material to partial ester

Claim 1

THE PROCESS WHICH COMPRISES ADMIXING A FATTY MATERIAL, AN ALCOHOL AND AN ESTER-INTERCHARGE CATALYST, REACTING THE RESULTING MIXTURE AT A REACTION TEMPERATURE EFFECTIVE TO CAUSE SUBSTANTIAL FORMATION OF A DESIRED FATTY ACID PARTIAL ESTER IN THE COMPOSITION RESULTING FROM THE REACTION, SEPARATING SAID PARTIAL ESTER FROM SAID COMPOSITION WHILE SAID COMPOSITION CONTAINS SAID CATALYST IN ACTIVE FORM, SAID SEPARATING BEING EFFECTED BY SPREADING SAID COMPOSITION IN A THIN FILM WHILE MAINTAINING SAID FILM AT A TEMPERATURE SUBSTANTIALLY BELOW THE DECOMPOSITION TEMPERATURE OF SAID ACTIVE CATALYST AND SUBJECTING SAID COMPOSITION WHILE IN SAID THIN FILM TO VACUUM EFFECTIVE TO DISTILL SAID PARTIAL ESTER THEREFROM LEAVING A DISTILLATION RESIDUE CONTAINING SAID ACTIVE CATALYST, REPLENISHING SAID DISTILLATION RESIDUE WITH MAKE-UP AMOUNTS OF SAID FATTY MATERIAL AND SAIDD ALCOHOL AND AGAIN EFFECTING REACTION OF SAID REPLENISHED RESIDUE AND SEPARATING PARTIAL ESTER FORMED THEREBY, AND REPEATING SAID PROCESS AT LEAST UNTIL THE AMOUNT OF SAID PARTIAL ESTER BEING RECOVERED IS SUBSTANTIALLY EQUIVALENT TO THE AMOUNT OF CONVERTIBLE FATTY MATERIAL BEING ADDED