Influence of Fatty Acid Profiles during Supercritical Transesterification of Conventional and Non-Conventional Feedstocks: A Review

Abstract

In this study, the influence of fatty acids of both conventionaland non-conventional oils in supercritical transesterification method has beenreviewed. Literature on oils such as moringa oleifera, manketti, crotonmegalocarpus, palm and soybean has been reviewed to establish an understandingof the supercritical transesterification that employed methanol as alcohol.This study reveals that lower yield of methyl esters is observed whenhigher temperatures are employed in oils that are highly dominated with polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as manketti and crotonmegalocarpus. And the reason is that poly-unsaturated fatty acids that arepresent in the oils decompose easily at higher temperatures and thus reduce themethyl esters yield.