Esterification of fatty acids in a thermally coupled reactive distillation column by the two-step supercritical methanol method

▶ Thermally coupled reactive distillation can be used to produce biodiesel fuel. ▶ A first-order kinetic model fits experimental data for the esterification reaction. ▶ Thermally coupled configurations reduce both utilities and capital costs. ▶ Thermally coupled configurations improve thermodynamic efficiency. ▶ The RTCDS system shows the lowest values of CO2 emissions and total annual cost.