TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The heterogeneous acidic catalyst comprises molybdenum on a support.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Components: The separator comprises a condenser in an upper portion of the separator, where, during use, a temperature of the condenser is maintained such that substantially all the methanol is removed from the reaction mixture in the upper portion of the separator and the glycerin portion is removed from a bottom portion of the separator.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The separating comprises maintaining the reaction mixture a temperature of less than 100 degrees C and a pressure of 0.65 MPa. The method further comprises: adjusting a pressure of the reaction mixture stream such that some volatile components in the reaction mixture are separated from the reaction mixture prior to separating a substantial portion of the alcohol while cooling a portion of the reaction mixture; and applying an electrostatic field to the separated reaction mixture to generate a fatty acid alkyl esters stream and a glycerin stream. The method allows glycerin to separate from the reaction mixture while removing the alcohol stream. In the method, adjusting one or more of the contacting conditions comprises adjusting a pressure and temperature of the reaction mixture. The step of adjusting the contacting conditions comprises adjusting fatty acid glycerides and alcohol in the feedstock. The contacting comprises continuously flowing a feedstock through a reactor comprising the catalysts. Preferred Components: The rate of alcohol separation is sufficient to inhibit thermal degradation or hydrolysis of the fatty acid alkyl esters in the reaction mixture. The alcohol stream comprises methanol. The fatty acid alkyl esters stream comprises alkyl esters of seed oils, myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, and/or arachidic acids. The fatty acid alkyl ester comprises fatty acid methyl ester. The alcohols are methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, pentanol, octanol, 2-ethylhexanol, decanol, dodecanol, and/or polyols. The alcohols have a carbon number of 1-50. A molar ratio of total fatty acid glycerides to alcohol in the feedstock is 1:12-1:50. The fatty acid glycerides are obtained from a vegetable oil, an animal fat, cooking grease, or a waste cooking oil. The fatty acid glycerides is coconut oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, mustard oil, olive oil, cotton seed oil, rapeseed oil, margarine oil, jojoba oil, Jatropha oil, karanja oil, Camellia oil, pennycress oil, and/or meadowfoam oil. EXAMPLE - Alumina supported catalyst (11.4 g) containing molybdenum oxide (14.9 wt.%) and phosphorus (2 wt.%) was positioned in a stainless steel fixed bed reactor. Crude sunflower methyl ester mixture was contacted with the catalyst in the presence of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol or 1-octanol at a space velocity of 0.4/hour and 1 atmosphere to obtain fatty acid alkyl esters.