Enzymatic Synthesis of Biodiesel via Alcoholysis of Palm Oil

The enzymatic alcoholysis of crude palm oil with methanol and ethanol was investigated using commercial immobilized lipases (Lipozyme RM IM, Lipozyme TL IM). The effect of alcohol (methanol or ethanol), molar ratio of alcohol to crude palm oil, and temperature on biodiesel production was determined. The best ethyl ester yield was about 25 wt.% and was obtained with ethanol/oil molar ratio of 3.0, temperature of 50 °C, enzyme concentration of 3.0 wt.%, and stepwise addition of the alcohol after 4 h of reaction. Experiments with 1 and 3 wt.% of KOH and 3 wt.% of MgO were carried out to compare their catalytic behavior with the enzymatic transesterification results. The commercial immobilized lipase, Lipozyme TL IM, showed the best catalytic performance.     

Kinetic Modeling of Solvent-Free Lipase-Catalyzed Partial Hydrolysis of Palm Oil

This work reports the experimental data and kinetic modeling of diacylglycerol (DAG) production from palm oil using a commercial immobilized lipase (Lipozyme RM IM) in a solvent-free medium. The experiments were performed in batch mode, at 55?°C and 400?rpm, and the effects of enzyme concentration (0.68?C2.04?wt% related to the mass of substrates), initial water concentration (5?C15?wt% related to the mass of oil), and reaction time were evaluated. A novel kinetic model is presented based on the ordered-sequential bi?Cbi mechanism considering hydrolysis and esterification steps, in which a correlation between water-in-oil solubility and surfactant molecules concentration in the oil allowed the model to describe the induction period in the beginning of the hydrolysis reaction. Moreover, mass transfer limitations related to the enzyme concentration in the system were also taken into account. The proposed model presented a very satisfactory agreement with the experimental data, thus allowing a better understanding of the reaction kinetics. The best conditions obtained for the product (partially hydrolyzed palm oil) in terms of DAG yield (35.91?wt%) were 2.87?wt% enzyme/substrate, 2.10?wt% water/oil, and 72?h of reaction.     

Enzymatic hydrolysis of anchovy oil: Production of glycerides enriched in polyunsaturated fatty acids

In an attempt to produce the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)enriched glycerides, commercially available Turkish anchovy oil (PUFA content of 27%), was hydrolyzed with 1,3-specificRhizomucor miehei lipase. After the hydrolysis, the triglyceride (TG), diglyceride (DG), monoglyceride (MG), and free fatty acid (FFA) composition of the reaction mixture was determined, and fatty acid components of these fractions were analyzed.R. miehei lipase released PUFA extremely slowly, resulting in their accumulation in the TG and DG fractions, especially in TG. The PUFA content in the glyceride mixture (including TG, DG, and MG) increased as hydrolysis progressed. The effects of operational parameters (pH, temperature, time, and enzyme concentration) on the extent of hydrolysis were investigated. Based on these results, optimal reaction conditions were established. At optimal conditions (pH 4.0, 35°C, 3 h, and enzyme concentration of 500 U/g oil), the level of PUFA in the glyceride mixture was raised to 40%. The individual TG and DG fractions contained 45 and 30% PUFA, respectively. Less than 2% of the total PUFA was lost in the FFA fraction.     

13C NMR quantification of mono and diacylglycerols obtained through the solvent‐free lipase‐catalyzed esterification of saturated fatty acids

In the present investigation, we studied the enzymatic synthesis of monoacylglycerols (MAG) and diacylglycerols (DAG) via the esterification of saturated fatty acids (stearic, palmitic and an industrial residue containing 87% palmitic acid) and glycerol in a solvent‐free system. Three immobilized lipases (Lipozyme RM IM, Lipozyme TL IM and Novozym 435) and different reaction conditions were evaluated. Under the optimal reaction conditions, esterifications catalyzed by Lipozyme RM IM resulted in a mixture of MAG and DAG at high conversion rates for all of the substrates. In addition, except for the reaction of industrial residue at atmospheric pressure, all of these products met the World Health Organization and European Union directives for acylglycerol mixtures for use in food applications. The products were quantified by ¹³C NMR, with the aid of an external reference signal which was generated from a sealed coaxial tube filled with acetonitrile‐d3. After calibrating the area of this signal using the classical external reference method, the same coaxial tube was used repeatedly to quantify the reaction products. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monoglycerides and Diglycerides Synthesis in a Solvent-Free System by Lipase-Catalyzed Glycerolysis

Five lipases were screened (Thermomyces lanuginosus free and immobilized forms, Candida antarctica B, Candida rugosa, Aspergillus niger, and Rhizomucor miehei) to study their ability to produce monoglycerides (MG) and diglycerides (DG) through enzymatic glycerolysis of soybean oil. Lipase from C. antarctica was further studied to verify the enzyme load (wt% of oil mass), the molar ratio glycerol/oil, and the water content (wt% of glycerol) on the glycerolysis reaction. The best DG and MG productions were in the range 45–48% and 28–30% (w/w, based on the total oil), respectively. Using immobilized lipases, the amount of free fatty acids (FFA) produced was about 5%. However, the amount of FFA produced when using free lipases, with 3.5% extra water in the system, is equivalent to the MG yield, about 23%. The extra water content provides a competition between hydrolysis and glycerolysis reactions, increasing the FFA production.     

Monoglyceride and Diglyceride Production Through Lipase-Catalyzed Glycerolysis and Molecular Distillation

Distilled glycerides are obtained through distillation of the system mono-diglycerides which is produced from the esterification reaction between a triglyceride with glycerol. In this work, monoglycerides (MG) and diglycerides (DG) are produced through lipase-catalyzed glycerolysis of soybean oil using Candida antarctica B in a solvent-free system. To separate the products of the reaction in order to obtain essentially MG and an oil of DG, it is necessary to use a suitable process in order to preserve the stability of the components and to keep the products free of inappropriate solvents. So, after 24 h of enzymatic reaction, the mixture of acylglycerols and fatty acids was distilled into a centrifugal molecular distiller, since it provides a free solvent and lower temperature environment to increase the desired product concentration. Starting from a material with 25.06% of triglycerides (TG), 46.63% of DG, 21.72% of MG, 5.38% of free fatty acids (FFA), and 1.21% of glycerol, the MG purity in the distillate stream was 80% at evaporator temperature (T _E) equal to 250 °C and feed flow rate (Q) equal to 10.0 mL/min. At these conditions, the MG recovery was 35%. The material collected in the residue stream presented DG-enriched oil with TG unhydrolyzed, residual MG, and low acidity (29.83% of TG, 53.20% of DG, 15.64% of MG, and 1.33% of FFA), which is suitable to replace TG oil in the human diet.     

Oxidative stabilities of enzymatically interesterified goose fat and rapeseed oil blend by rancimat and PDSC

Goose fat (GF) and rapeseed oil (RSO) 2:3 m m^?1 blend was enzymatically interesterified at 60 °C with and without microwaves assistance. As the catalyst, a commercial preparation of the immobilized lipase from Rhizomucor miehei (Lipozyme RM IM) containing 2 % of water was used, and the catalyst load was 8 % in each case. The starting mixture and the interesterified products were separated by column chromatography into pure triacylglycerols fraction (TAG) and a non-triacylglycerol fraction, which contained free fatty acids (FFA), mono- and diacylglycerols (MAG and DAG). The oxidative stabilities of fats studied and TAG derived from them were assessed by Rancimat at 100 °C and by pressure differential scanning calorimetry (PDSC) under oxygen at 110–140 °C. Interesterification reduced the oxidative stability of GF and RSO blend. The main factors influenced on the oxidative stabilities of fats studied were concentrations of tocopherols and the presence of FFA, MAG and DAG. The structures of TAGs were of minor importance. From the resulting PDSC exotherms, their times to reach the onset (τ _on) and peak maximum (τ _max) were measured and used for calculations of parameters of the Arrhenius type kinetics for thermaloxidative decomposition of fats studied.     

Hydrolysis of new phthalimide-derived esters catalyzed by immobilized lipase

The last step of the production of four phthalimide-derived acids, designed to act as antiasthma drugs, was performed by enzymatic hydrolysis of the respective methyl or ethyl esters. The esters 4-ethyl-[2-(1,3-dioxo-1,3-dihydro-2-isoindoylyl)]-phenoxyacetic methyl ester (PHT-MET), 4-ethyl-[2-(1,3-dioxo-1,3-dihydro-2-isoindoylyl)]-phenoxyacetic ethyl ester, 4-(1,3-dioxo-1,3-dihydro-2-isoindoylyl)-phenoxyacetic ethyl ester, and 2-(1,3-dioxo-1, 3-dihydro-2-isoindoylyl)-phenoxyacetic ethyl ester were hydrolyzed by immobilized lipase. The enzymatic reaction could be used only to produce the desired 4-substituted compounds. The best result that was found to hydrolysis of PHT-MET, and, therefore, that ester was selected for optimization experiments in a three-phase system. Reactions were performed with solid biocatalyst (Lipozyme® RM IM), organic solvent phase (ethyl acetate), and aqueous phase (saturated Na₂CO₃ solution). To optimize the reaction conditions, an experimental design optimization procedure was used. The variables studied were the amount of enzyme, the temperature, and the volume of the aqueous solution. Time course experiments were then performed for different initial enzyme concentrations (0.5, 0.9, and 1.4 U_H/mL of solvent). The optimized reaction conditions found were 20 mg of Lipozyme (0.9 U_H/mL_solvent) and 5.0 mL of Na₂CO_3(sat) at 40°C for 6 h.     

Optimization of enzymatic production of biodiesel from castor oil in organic solvent medium

We studied the production of fatty acid ethyl esters from castor oil using n-hexane as solvent and two commercial lipases, Novozym 435 and Lipozyme IM, as catalysts. For this purpose, a Taguchi experimental design was adopted considering the following variables: temperature (35–65°C), water (0–10 wt/wt%), and enzyme (5–20 wt/wt%) concentrations and oil-to-ethanol molar ratio (1∶3 to 1∶10). An empirical model was then built so as to assess the main and cross-variable effects on the reaction conversion and also to maximize biodiesel production for each enzyme. For the system containing Novozym 435 as tatalyst the maximum conversion obtained was 81.4% at 65°C, enzyme concentration of 20 wt/wt%, water concentration of 0 wt/wt%, and oil-to-ethanol molar ratio of 1∶10. When the catalyst was Lipozyme IM, a conversion as high as 98% was obtained at 65°C, enzyme concentration of 20 wt/wt%, water concentration of 0 wt/wt%, and oil-to-ethanol molar ratio of 1∶3.     

Lipase-catalyzed transformation of poly(lactic acid) into cyclic oligomers

Enzymatic transformations into cyclic oligomers were carried out with the objective of developing chemical recycling of poly(lactic acid)s, such as poly(D,L-lactic acid) (PDLLA), poly(D-lactic acid) (PDLA) and poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA), which are typical biodegradable polymers. They were degraded by lipase in an organic solvent to produce the corresponding cyclic oligomer with a molecular weight of several hundreds. PDLLA (with a Mw of 84,000) was quantitatively transformed into cyclic oligomers by lipase RM (Lipozyme RM IM) in chloroform/hexane at 60 degrees C. PLLA (with a Mw of 120,000) was transformed into cyclic oligomer by lipase CA (Novozym 435) at a higher temperature of 100 degrees C in o-xylene. The oligomer structure was identified by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and MALDI-TOF (matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight) mass spectrometry.     

Monitoring lipase-catalyzed methanolysis of sunflower oil by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography: elucidation of the mechanisms of lipases

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with UV detection at 210 nm was used to monitor the formation of the major compounds during the lipase-catalyzed transesterification reaction of sunflower oil with methanol. Individual triacylglycerols, diacylglycerols, monoacylglycerols as well as fatty acids and their corresponding methyl esters were separated using acetonitrile/acetone as a mobile phase and a combined linear gradient-isocratic-step gradient-isocratic elution procedure. Another relatively short method consisting of a linear gradient elution followed by an isocratic elution gave similar results, yet with lower resolution. HPLC/mass spectrometry with an ion trap analyzer and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization source was used for the identification of the individual compounds. Individual calibration curves obtained with UV detection at 210 nm were found to be of use for quantitative analyses of double-bond containing methyl esters and acylglycerols. The use of the RP-HPLC methods in the elucidation of the mechanisms of three immobilized lipases, namely Lipozyme TL IM, Lipozyme RM IM and Novozym 435, in biodiesel production was described.     

Cantilever Functionalization Using Peroxidase Extract of Low Cost for Glyphosate Detection

A highly efficient process for reducing the fatty acid (FA) content of high-acid rice bran oil (RBO) was developed by immobilized partial glycerides-selective lipase SMG1-F278N-catalyzed esterification/transesterification using methanol as a novel acyl acceptor. Molecular docking simulation indicated that methanol was much closer to the catalytic serine (Ser-171) compared with ethanol and glycerol, which might be one of the reasons for its high efficiency in the deacidification of high-acid RBO. Additionally, the reaction parameters were optimized to minimize the FA content of high-acid RBO. Under the optimal conditions (substrate molar ratio of methanol to FAs of 1.8:1, enzyme loading of 40 U/g, and at 30 °C), FA content decreased from 25.14 to 0.03% after 6 h of reaction. Immobilized SMG1-F278N exhibited excellent methanol tolerance and retained almost 100% of its initial activity after being used for ten batches. After purification by molecular distillation, the final product contained 97.86% triacylglycerol, 2.10% diacylglycerol, and 0.04% FA. The acid value of the final product was 0.09 mg KOH/g, which reached the grade one standard of edible oil. Overall, methanol was a superior acyl acceptor for the deacidification of high-acid RBO and the high reusability of immobilized SMG1-F278N indicates an economically attractive process.     

Kinetics of enzyme-catalyzed alcoholysis of soybean oil in n-hexane

This work investigated the production of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) from soybean oil using n-hexane as solvent and two commercial lipases as catalysts, Novozym 435 and Lipozyme IM. A Taguchi experimental design was adopted considering the variables temperature (35–65°C), addition of water (0–10 wt/wt%), enzyme (5–20 wt/wt%) concentration, and oil-to-ethanol molar ratio (1:3–1:10). It is shown that complete conversion in FAEE is achieved for some experimental conditions. The effects of process variables on reaction conversion and kinetics of the enzymatic reactions are presented for all experimental conditions investigated in the factorial design.     

Stability analysis of environmentally benign green emulsion liquid membrane

A new stable green emulsion liquid membrane (GELM) was formulated by selecting the environmentally benign vegetable oils. The rice bran oil (RBO) based GELM has shown better stability in comparison to that obtained from other oils. GELM was prepared using 10?mL RBO, 0.25 [M] NaOH concentration, 2 (v/v, %) surfactant concentration, 0.4 (v/v) phase ratio, 2000?rpm emulsification speed, and 20?min emulsification time. Under these optimum conditions, GELM has been found to be stable for 120?±?2?min (no significant phase change) and has shown complete phase separation after 4 hours. Therefore, RBO as a green solvent has high potential to be applied in several ELM process applications.     

A kinetic study on lipase-catalyzed interesterification of soybean oil with oleic acid in a continuous packed-bed reactor

To provide a mathematical basis for the design and operation of a continuous, packed-bed reactor for the interesterification of soybean oil, soybean oil that contains 22.7% oleoyl and 54.3% linoleoyl moieties as molar acyl moiety composition was interesterified in hexane with oleic acid, using an immobilized sn-1,3-specific lipase (Lipozyme IM) from Mucor miehei. The reaction was carried out in a U-shaped Pyrex glass-made packed-bed reactor at 37°C in the following system: concentration of soybean oil in the feed stream=12.5 wt%, molar ratio of fatty acid to soybean oil=3.0, and water content in the feed stream=1340–2340 ppm. At these water contents, Lipozyme IM gave practically the same catalytic activity, and the content of triacylglycerols in the product oil was 91–94 wt%. Rate equations for the change in oleoyl and linoleoyl moiety compositions in soybean oil were derived and their validity was confirmed experimentally. On the other hand, the catalytic activity of Lipozyme IM decayed in the first-order fashion. Based on these deactivation kinetics, the flow rate of the feed stream is simulated for the operation of a continuous, packed-bed reactor at 37°C that produces an oil of a fixed composition of oleoyl moiety.     

Kinetics of gas-phase hydrolysis of ethyl acetate catalyzed by immobilized lipase

Reactions catalyzed by supported enzymes present important advantages when compared with those in aqueous media or organic solvents: separation of enzymes from substrate is easily accomplished, enzyme stability may be improved, and control of the reaction products is more accurate. We present the experimental results of the kinetic study of ethyl acetate hydrolysis in gaseous phase catalyzed by a commercial immobilized lipase (Lipozyme IM; Novo Nordisk). The hydrolysis reaction was studied as a function of ethyl ester and water partial pressure at a constant temperature of 318 K. The amount of biocatalyst used was varied between 100 and 300 mg, and the reaction was studied in a flow-through glass microreactor. Under the conditions used, water was an important parameter in the gas-phase reaction. Activation energy was 24.8 kJ/mol and the overall order of reaction was one. Finally a Bi-Bi reaction mechanism is proposed.     

Enzymatic Biodiesel Synthesis in Semi-Pilot Continuous Process in Near-Critical Carbon Dioxide

A semi-pilot continuous process (SPCP) for enzymatic biodiesel synthesis utilizing near-critical carbon dioxide (NcCO₂) as the reaction medium was developed with the aim of reducing the reaction time and alleviating the catalyst inhibition by methanol. Biodiesel synthesis was evaluated in both lab-scale and semi-pilot scale reactors (batch and continuous reactors). In a SPCP, the highest conversion (～99.9 %) in four and a half hours was observed when three-step substrate (methanol) addition (molar ratio [oil/methanol]?=?1:1.3) was used and the reaction mixture containing enzyme (Lipozyme TL IM, 20 wt.% of oil) was continuously mixed (agitation speed?=?300 rpm) at 30 °C and 100 bar in a CO₂ environment. The biodiesel produced from canola oil conformed to the fuel standard (EU) even without additional downstream processing, other than glycerol separation and drying.     

A new method for simultaneous estimation of unsaponifiable constituents of rice bran oil using HPTLC

Rice bran oil (RBO) is rich in a variety of bioactive phytochemicals otherwise known as unsaponifiable constituents (USC). Oryzanols, phytosterols, tocols, etc. are the major USC in RBO; the methods presently used for their estimation involve different techniques and require pretreatment of the sample. In this paper standardization of a simple method for simultaneous estimation of USC directly from RBO using HPTLC is presented. The method involves a two-stage separation of USC on a precoated silica gel 60 F(254 )TLC plate viz.: TLC-1 to separate sterols, oryzanols and tocols; TLC-2 to separate steryl esters, wax, and squalene. Calibration plots using the respective standards were made to determine LOD, LOQ, and linear regression equations. Recovery studies were also conducted and the values ranged from 93.45 to 101.97%. The LOD and LOQ values showed the sensitivity of the method. The instrumental precision was found to be in the range of 0.30 to 1.18 CV%. Quantitative estimation of USC in crude RBO and refined RBO using this method gave a concentration of 52.80 mg/g of USC in the crude and 33.48 mg/g in the refined oil. The present method for estimation of USC using HPTLC is fast, simple, accurate, precise, and sensitive, as demonstrated here.     

Synthesis and investigation of surface active properties of green glucosyl esters

We here reported on the regioselective biosynthesis of green glucosyl monoesters surfactants which were confirmed by chemical analysis methods using immobilized enzyme catalysis with N-fatty acyl amino acid and D-glucose as substrate. Lipozyme 435 was the most efficient lipase to catalyze the transesterification reaction in t-butanol at 50?°C. The target compounds showed good surface properties. The CMC values of glucosyl esters 15-22 were 4.97, 3.96, 1.87, 0.48?mmol/L, and 4.70, 3.53, 1.58 and 0.42?mmol/L at 25?°C, respectively. It was noteworthy that the micellization physiochemical parameters were calculated and the micellization was exothermic process. Meanwhile, it was entropy driven in the formation of micelles related to the structure of glucosyl esters at different temperature.     

Enzymatic synthesis of medium-chain triglycerides in a solvent-free system

The synthesis of tricaprylin, tricaprin, trilaurin, and trimyristin in a solvent-freesystem was conducted by mixing a commercial immobilized lipase (Lipozyme IM 20, Novo Nordisk, Bagsvaerd, Denmark) with the organic reactants (glycerol and fatty acids) in a 20-mL batch reactor with constant stirring. In a first set of experiments, the effect of water concentration (0–6%) on the reaction conversion was shown to be negligible. In a second set of experiments, the effects of temperature (70–90°C), fatty acid/glycerol molar ratio (1–5), and enzyme concentration (1–9%[w/w]) on the reaction conversion were determined by the application of a 3×3 experimental design. The reactions were carried out for 26 h and the nonpolar phase was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC). Appreciable levels of medium-chain triglycerides were achieved, except for tricaprylin. For the triglyceride production, higher selectivity was attained under the following conditions: molar ratio of 5, enzyme concentration of 5 or 9% (w/w) and temperatures of 70°C (Tricaprin), 80°C (trilaurin), and 90°C (trimyristin). Statistical analysis indicated that the fatty acid/glycerol molar ratio was the most significant variable affecting the synthesis of triglycerides.