Alcohol/triglyceride molar ratio

The most significant factor of alkali-catalyzed transesterification was the molar ratio of the alcohol and oil. The stoichiometry of alkali-catalyzed transesterification requires 3 mol of alcohol/1 mol of triglyceride to generate 3 mol of FAME and 1 mol of glycerol. Since the transesterification is composed of reversible and consecutive reactions, the increase in molar ratio of methanol will result in high conversion yields. 

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