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Continuous enzymatic biodiesel production from coconut oil in two-stage packed-bed reactor incorporating an extracting column to remove glycerol formed as by-product

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Abstract

The transesterification of coconut oil with ethanol catalyzed by Burkholderia cepacia lipase immobilized on polysiloxane–polyvinyl alcohol was performed in a continuous flow. The experimental design consisted of a two-stage packed-bed reactor incorporating a column with cationic resin (Lewatit GF 202) to remove the glycerol formed as by-product and the reactor performance was quantified for three different flow rates corresponding to space-times from 10 to 14 h. The influence of space-time on the ethyl ester (FAEE) concentrations, yields and productivities was determined. The reactor operation was demonstrated for space-time of 14 h attaining FAEE concentrations of 58.5 ± 0.87 wt%, FAEE yields of 97.3 ± 1.9 % and productivities of 41.6  ± 1.0 mgester g −1medium  h−1. Biodiesel purified samples showed average kinematic viscosity values of 5.5 ± 0.3 mm2 s−1 that meet the criteria established by the American National Standard ASTM (D6751). The immobilized lipase was found to be stable regarding its morphological and catalytic characteristics, showing half-life time (t 1/2) around 1540 h. The continuous packed-bed reactor connected in series with simultaneous glycerol removal has a great potential to attain high level of transesterification yields, raising biodiesel productivity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-Process Number 475403/2012-6) and CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering School of Lorena-University of São Paulo, Lorena, São Paulo, 12602-810, Brazil

    William Costa e Silva, Larissa Freitas, Pedro C. Oliveira & Heizir F. de Castro

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  1. William Costa e Silva
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  2. Larissa Freitas
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  3. Pedro C. Oliveira
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  4. Heizir F. de Castro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heizir F. de Castro.

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Costa e Silva, W., Freitas, L., Oliveira, P.C. et al. Continuous enzymatic biodiesel production from coconut oil in two-stage packed-bed reactor incorporating an extracting column to remove glycerol formed as by-product. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 39, 1611–1617 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-016-1636-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-016-1636-3

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