Biocatalytic ethanolysis of palm oil for biodiesel production using microcrystalline lipase in tert-butanol system
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Author list: Raita M., Champreda V., Laosiripojana N.
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication year: 2010
Journal: Process Biochemistry (1359-5113)
Volume number: 45
Issue number: 6
Start page: 829
End page: 834
Number of pages: 6
ISSN: 1359-5113
eISSN: 1873-3298
Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)
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Abstract
Biocatalytic synthesis is a promising environmentally friendly process for the production of biodiesel, a sustainable alternative fuel from renewable plant resources. In order to develop an economical heterogeneous biocatalyst, protein-coated microcrystals (PCMCs) were prepared from a commercial enzyme preparation from a recombinant Aspergillus strain expressing Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase and used for synthesis of biodiesel from palm olein by ethanolysis. Reaction parameters, including catalyst loading, temperature, and oil/alcohol molar ratio have been systematically optimized. Addition of tert-butanol was found to markedly increase the biocatalyst activity and stability resulting in improved product yield. Optimized reactions (20%, w/w PCMC-lipase to triacylglycerol and 1:4 fatty acid equivalence/ethanol molar ratio) led to the production of alkyl esters from palm olein at 89.9% yield on molar basis after incubation at 45 ฐC for 24 h in the presence of tert-butanol at a 1:1 molar ratio to triacylglycerol. Crude palm oil and palm fatty acid distillate were also efficiently converted to biodiesel with 82.1 and 75.5% yield, respectively, with continual dehydration by molecular sieving. Operational stability of PCMC-lipase could be improved by treatment with tert-butanol allowing recycling of the biocatalyst for at least 8 consecutive batches with only slight reduction in activity. This work thus shows a promising approach for biodiesel synthesis with microcrystalline lipase which could be further developed for cost-efficient industrial production of biodiesel. ฉ 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Ethanolysis, Lipase, Protein-coated microcrystals
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