Production of biodiesel fuels which are low in glycerin and sulfur

1. A system for preparing biodiesel from a fatty acid feedstream, the system comprising:

a reaction vessel comprising an upper section having a fatty acid feedstream introduced thereto, a lower section having an alcohol vapor introduced thereto, and an esterification zone maintained under esterification conditions and comprising a plurality of esterification trays mounted one above the other, each tray having a predetermined liquid volume capacity and charged with a solid heterogeneous ion exchange resin catalyst;

wherein the alcohol vapor and fatty acid feedstream are catalytically esterified in the esterification zone to produce a fatty acid alkyl ester product stream and water;

an alcohol/water separator connected to the reaction vessel, the alcohol/water separator adapted to:

receive unreacted alcohol vapor and the water removed from the upper section by the unreacted alcohol vapor;

separate the unreacted alcohol vapor from the water, and

recycle the unreacted alcohol vapor to the lower section of the reaction vessel; and

a separation means connected to the reaction vessel and adapted to remove impurities from said fatty acid alkyl ester product stream by at least one process selected from the group consisting of distillation, reboiled stripping, inert gas stripping, physical adsorption, and gravity separation to prepare a biodiesel meeting biodiesel standard ASTM D6751 from the fatty acid alkyl ester product stream.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a fat splitter, wherein the fatty acid feedstream is the product of introducing a triglyceride feedstock into the fat splitter to produce a fatty-acid rich feedstream.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a pre-esterification unit for pre-esterification of the fatty acid feedstream prior to introduction of the fatty acid feedstream into the reaction vessel.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the esterification zone includes an ion exchange resin catalyst with —SO 3 H or —CO 2 H functional groups.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst is present in structured packing.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst concentration on the trays is at least 0.2% w/v.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst concentration on the trays is from about 2% w/v/ to about 20% w/v.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the alcohol is selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, propanol, isomers of propanol, isomers of butyl and amyl alcohol, isoamyl alcohol, and mixtures thereof.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biodiesel comprises a water content of less than 0.050% by volume.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biodiesel comprises a kinematic viscosity of between 1.9 and 6 mm 2 /s.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid alkyl ester product stream comprises fatty acid methyl ester.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biodiesel contains from 0 to about 0.25% by weight total glycerin.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biodiesel contains from 0 to about 500 ppm sulfur.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biodiesel comprises a cetane number greater than 47.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biodiesel comprises a total glycerin content of less than 0.20% by weight.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biodiesel comprises a cloud point of less than −20° C.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biodiesel comprises a cloud point of less than −40° C.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein said fatty acid feedstream comprises one or more fatty acids selected from the group consisting of decanoic acid, dodecanoic acid, tetradecanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid, octadecanoic acid, octadecenoic acid, linoleic acid, eicosanoic acid, and isostearic acid.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid feedstock comprises 99% or greater fatty acids.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the biodiesel meets EN 14214.