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Abstract
Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) were produced with high efficiency by a cheap, available, and strongly basic catalyst: NaAlO2 (SA). A deep characterization revealed that both basic density and strength played a crucial role in the transesterification reaction. Its catalytic performances were compared with other classical basic catalysts, in the same operative conditions and the outline is that SA outcompetes all other benchmarks in terms of specific activity and final FAME yield. SA is also truly heterogeneous (does not leach).
