Lipase-Catalyzed Transesterification of Rapeseed Oilfor Biodiesel Production with tert-Butanol

摘要

Biodiesel is a fatty acid alkyl ester that can be derived from any vegetable oil oranimal fat via the process of transesterification. It is a renewable, biodegradable, and nontoxicfuel. In this paper, we have evaluated the efficacy of a transesterification process for rapeseedoil with methanol in the presence of an enzyme and tert-butanol, which is added to amelioratethe negative effects associated with excess methanol. The application of Novozym 435 wasdetermined to catalyze the transesterification process, and a conversion of 76.1% wasachieved under selected conditions (reaction temperature 40 °C, methanol/oil molar ratio 3:1,5% (w/w) Novozym 435 based on the oil weight, water content 1% (w/w), and reaction timeof 24h). It has also been determined that rapeseed oil can be converted to fatty acid methylester using this system, and the results of this study contribute to the body of basic datarelevant to the development of continuous enzymatic processes.