Biodiesel production catalyzed by immobilized lipases offers the possibility of easy reuse of the catalyst, which is very important to minimize costs and to make this process economically feasible. In this study, the reuse of three commercial immobilized lipases (Novozym 435, Lipozyme RM IM, and Lipozyme TL IM) was investigated in ethanolysis of soybean oil. The effect of the use of solvents (ethanol, butanol, and hexane) to wash the immobilized lipases before the enzyme reuse was evaluated, as well as the lipase reuse without solvent washing. The washing with butanol and ethanol led to the lowest decrease in ester yield after the first batch and allowed the highest glycerol removal (>85 %) from biocatalysts. The biocatalysts were incubated at 50 °C for 2 h in these three solvents. Esterification activities of the enzyme preparations, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses of the beads, and protein content in organic phase were evaluated before and after incubation in the solvent. SEM analysis showed a significant change in beads morphology of Novozym 435 after contact with hexane. For Lipozyme TL IM lipase, this effect was visualized with ethanol.
The conventional biodiesel production process has some disadvantages. It is necessary to use refined vegetable oils with low free fatty acids (FFAs) content. An alternative route is to use low-cost acid oils in an enzymatic process. The use of lipases allows simultaneous esterification of FFAs and transesterification of triglycerides present in raw material forming alkyl esters. The aim of this work was to study the production of biodiesel using soybean oils with different acid contents (Acid Value of 8.5, 50, 90) and ethanol catalyzed by commercial immobilized lipases (Novozym 435, Lipozyme RM IM and Lipozyme TL IM). A significant decrease of acid value was observed mainly with Novozym 435 and Lipozyme RM IM. The use of a mixture of two immobilized lipases was also investigated to decrease catalyst cost and increase the amount of ester produced. The three commercial immobilized lipases were mixed in a dual system and tested for biodiesel synthesis from acid oil (AV of 8.5, 50 and 90). A positive synergistic effect occurred mainly for Lipozyme TL IM (1,3-specific lipase) and Novozym 435 (non-specific lipase) blend. The ester content doubled when this lipase mixture was used in ethanolysis of acid oil with AV of 90.
The objective of this work was to study the synthesis of ethyl esters via esterification of soybean oil deodorizer distillate with ethanol, using solid acid catalysts and commercial immobilized lipases, in a solvent-free system. Three commercially immobilized lipases were used, namely, Lipozyme RM-IM, Lipozyme TL-IM, and Novozym 435, all from Novozymes. We aimed for optimum reaction parameters: temperature, enzyme concentration, initial amount of ethanol, and its feeding technique to the reactor (stepwise ethanolysis). Reaction was faster with Novozym 435. The highest conversion (83.5%) was obtained after 90 min using 3 wt.% of Novozym 435 and two-stage stepwise addition of ethanol at 50 degrees C. Four catalysts were also tested: zeolite CBV-780, SAPO-34, niobia, and niobic acid. The highest conversion (30%) was obtained at 100 degrees C, with 3 wt.% of CBV-780 after 2.5 h. The effects of zeolite CBV 780 concentration were studied, resulting in a conversion of 49% using 9 wt.% of catalyst.
The aim of this study was to monitor the biomass growth of Aspergillus niger in solid-state fermentation (SSF) for lipase production using digital image processing technique. The strain A. niger 11T53A14 was cultivated in SSF using wheat bran as support, which was enriched with 0.91% (m/v) of ammonium sulfate. The addition of several vegetable oils (castor, soybean, olive, corn, and palm oils) was investigated to enhance lipase production. The maximum lipase activity was obtained using 2% (m/m) castor oil. In these conditions, the growth was evaluated each 24 h for 5 days by the glycosamine content analysis and digital image processing. Lipase activity was also determined. The results indicated that the digital image process technique can be used to monitor biomass growth in a SSF process and to correlate biomass growth and enzyme activity. In addition, the immobilized esterification lipase activity was determined for the butyl oleate synthesis, with and without 50% v/v hexane, resulting in 650 and 120 U/g, respectively. The enzyme was also used for transesterification of soybean oil and ethanol with maximum yield of 2.4%, after 30 min of reaction.
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