The enzymatic synthesis of fine chemicals is a promising approach to overcome the major problems of the traditional chemical routes and implement eco‐friendly and low energy consuming industrial processes. This work introduces for the first time the one‐step production of an analogue of the sperm whale's spermaceti in a vacuum, solvent‐free system. With the aim of easing the industrial feasibility of the process, two commercial biocatalysts with appropriate technical properties were tested. Results pointed out that under optimal conditions, both commercial immobilized derivatives (Lipozyme® RM IM and CalB immo Plus) gave excellent results as they can be reused up to 15 batches without a noticeable loss of their activity, obtaining conversions of ∼98% in two hours. This green and sustainable process might be economically competitive and leads to a product that meets the all specifications required for its cosmetic use and that can be labeled as “natural”, increasing its added value.

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A solvent-free biocatalytic process for the synthesis of high quality cetyl laurate, myristate, palmitate and stearate has been optimized. This enzymatic procedure follows the fundamental principles of the Green Chemistry and lead to sustainable products, which can be labeled as natural and conform to the principal requirements for its use in high value-added goods. The four esters selected are the main components of spermaceti, a mixture of waxes very appreciated in cosmetic and pharmacy because of its physical properties and emolliency, which was formerly extracted from the head of the sperm whales. In this paper, the influence of the amount of biocatalyst, the commercially available Novozym(®) 435, and the temperature were studied in an open-air batch reactor before carrying out the synthesis in a high performance vacuum reactor with dry nitrogen input to shift the equilibrium towards product formation. Under optimal conditions, conversion was higher than 98.5 %. The characterization of the enzymatic cetyl esters puts in evidence that these are ultra-pure compounds, which have similar properties to the ones obtained through the conventional industrial processes with the extra benefit of being environmentally friendly.

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BACKGROUND Despite the interest that commercial lipases arouse, the number of industrial applications is still very limited. Only high added value products such as cosmetic ingredients that can simultaneously benefit from ‘green chemistry’ and ‘natural’ labels of using biocatalysts can justify the final cost. In any case, process feasibility economic assessment in the first project stages must be done to take decisions about its industrial applicability. RESULTS This work presents an economic study of the cetyl esters mixture production process similar to natural spermaceti catalyzed by different in‐lab immobilized lipase derivatives to determine if they can compete, not only in catalytic properties (activity and stability) but also in price, with the commercial ones. Results highlight that CALB lipase immobilized in Amberlite™ XAD™ 1180 whose direct total cost (1.20 € g−1) is comparable with commercial lipases, is also effective in spermaceti biocatalytic synthesis achieving, under optimal conditions, 98% conversion in less than one hour. CONCLUSION High conversion values and it reusability (at least 15 times), provides a product with a price (58 € kg−1) similar to that of the well‐known Novozym® 435 (56.5 € kg−1). Future scale‐up will allow better study the process and gives a more realistic product final price. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry