Biodiesel Production From Soapstock

A process for the production of fatty acid esters from any soapstock generated in the alkali refining process of soybean, sunflower, rice, corn, coconut, palm kernel, rapeseed or cotton oils, which soapstock comprises water, about 0.1-2.0%, fatty derivatives, including glycerides, neutralizing and splitting the soaps with strong acids, followed by enzymatic esterification using a lipase enzyme, with an alkanol, at 15-to-70° C., followed by agitating the resulting mixture for three-to-five days, then separating the crude ester phase from the mixture, neutralizing the residual acid value with a base, and distilling off and recovering the esters, and obtaining a residue containing sterols, wherein the fatty acid esters thus produced may be used as biodiesel fuel.