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BACKGROUND The work describes the synthesis of n‐amyl acetate from n‐amyl alcohol, a byproduct of the sugar industry. The synthesis was carried out using Burkholderia cepacia lipase immobilized on a hydrophobic polymer support containing hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose and polyvinyl alcohol. The reaction conditions were optimized and intrinsic kinetics were evaluated. An immobilized lipase‐coated film reactor was designed and evaluated for continuous flow synthesis. An attempt has been made to model the coated film reactor based on axial dispersion method. RESULTS The reaction conditions were optimized using a central composite design‐based response surface method. The optimum conditions for a maximum conversion of 99.5% were an acyl donor : alcohol ratio of 2:1, temperature 50 °C and catalyst loading 40 mg in n‐hexane. The intrinsic kinetics of reaction were fitted using an order bi–bi model with alcohol inhibition. The continuous flow synthesis was carried out in a coated film reactor with residence times ranging from 12 min to 60 min with per pass conversions of 5.6% and 22%, respectively. The catalyst was successfully recycled for five cycles. CONCLUSION The activation energy of the reaction was found to be 15.48 kJ mol−1. The productivity from batch and continuous flow reactor were found to be 8.16 and 6.54 mmol g−1 h−1. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry