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Lipase-Catalyzed Production of Biodiesel by Hydrolysis of Waste Cooking Oil Followed by Esterification of Free Fatty Acids

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

Biodiesel is conventionally produced by alkaline-catalyzed transesterification, which requires high-purity oils. However, low-quality oils can be used as feedstocks for the production of biodiesel by enzyme-catalyzed reactions. The use of enzymes has several advantages, such as the absence of saponification side reactions, production of high-purity glycerol co-product, and low-cost downstream processing. In this work, biodiesel was produced from lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis of waste cooking oil (WCO) followed by esterification of the hydrolyzed WCO (HWCO). The hydrolysis of acylglycerols was carried out at 30 °C in salt-free water (WCO/water ratio of 1:4, v/v) and the esterification of HWCO was carried out at 40 °C with ethanol in a solvent-free medium (HWCO/ethanol molar ratio of 1:7). The hydrolysis and esterification steps were carried out using immobilized Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase (TLL/WCO ratio of 1:5.6, w/w) and immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (10 wt%, CALB/HWCO) as biocatalysts, respectively. The hydrolysis of acylglycerols was almost complete after 12 h (ca. 94 %), and in the esterification step, the conversion was around 90 % after 6 h. The purified biodiesel had 91.8 wt% of fatty acid ethyl esters, 0.53 wt% of acylglycerols, 0.003 wt% of free glycerol, viscosity of 4.59 cP, and acid value of 10.88 mg KOH/g. Reuse hydrolysis and esterification assays showed that the immobilized enzymes could be recycled five times in 10-h batches, under the conditions described above. TLL was greatly inactivated under the assay conditions, whereas CALB remained fully active. The results showed that WCO is a promising feedstock for use in the production of biodiesel.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, grant #2011/23194-0), National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and Improvement Commission of Higher Level Personnel (CAPES).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Chemical Engineering, Federal University of São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luiz, km 235, São Carlos, SP, 13565-905, Brazil

    Vinicius Vescovi, Mayerlenis Jimenez Rojas, Raquel de Lima Camargo Giordano & Paulo Waldir Tardioli

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of São Carlos, P.O. Box 676, São Carlos, SP, 13565-905, Brazil

    Anderson Baraldo Jr., Daniel Carrero Botta, Felipe Augusto Montes Santana, Julia Piva Costa, Mariana Stefani Machado, Vitor Kasuyoshi Honda, Raquel de Lima Camargo Giordano & Paulo Waldir Tardioli

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  1. Vinicius Vescovi
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  2. Mayerlenis Jimenez Rojas
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Correspondence to Paulo Waldir Tardioli.

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Vescovi, V., Rojas, M.J., Baraldo, A. et al. Lipase-Catalyzed Production of Biodiesel by Hydrolysis of Waste Cooking Oil Followed by Esterification of Free Fatty Acids. J Am Oil Chem Soc 93, 1615–1624 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-016-2901-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-016-2901-y

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