The production of fatty acid esters from stearic, oleic, and palmitic acids and polyols (ethylene glycol and glycerol) was investigated in this work. A series of montmorillonite-based clays catalysts (KSF, KSF/0, KP10, and K10), having different physicochemical properties, were used as acidic catalysts. The influence of the specific surface area and the acidity of the catalysts on the esterification rate were explored. The best catalytic activities were obtained with KSF catalyst. The optimization of various factors on the reaction was also studied, including catalyst concentration, reaction temperature and molar ratio (polyol / fatty acid). The yield rate reached 94% under the optimum conditions and the recovery rate maintained more than 96% after 5 batches.
Keywords: clays; esterification; fatty acids; montmorillonite; polyols.