A process for producing rosin esters

Abstract

A process for producing rosin ester comprises preparing a reaction mixture comprising alcohol and rosin, wherein the rosin is gum rosin, wood rosin, or tall oil rosin. The process comprises spreading the reaction mixture onto a heated surface to form a thin layer (201) of the reaction mixture where the esterification reaction takes place. The process comprises removing, from a gaseous space adjacent to the layer of the reaction mixture, water and other substances evaporated from the reaction mixture, and removing, from the heated surface, the product in which the esterification reaction has produced the rosin ester. Because the layer (201) of the reaction mixture is thin, the mass transfer pathways of the water molecules leaving the reaction mixture are short, and consequently, the evaporation surface is large.This allows maintaining a low concentration of water in the reaction mixture and, therefore, increasing the reaction rate.