Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Biodiesel (FAME) Productivity, Catalytic Efficiency and Thermal Stability of Lipozyme TL IM for Crude Palm Oil Transesterification with Methanol

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

Abstract

Crude palm oil (CPO) transesterification with methanol at room temperature is an important factor for optimizing biodiesel processing costs with respect to energy input; in addition, good stability of expensive lipase activity was ensured and is reported in this study. The enzyme loading, agitation speed and reaction time at a constant operating temperature of 30 °C were studied to find favourable operational conditions using a factorial design. Statistical analysis was used to assist the enzymatic transesterification so that a reduced mass transfer effect was achieved to obtain high FAME yields. The combination of optimum enzyme loading of 6.67 wt% and 150 rpm agitation speed for the system at 30 °C gave 81.73% FAME yield at 4 h and a production rate of 85.86% FAME yield/h. The high viscosity of CPO observed at 30 °C compared to 40 °C hindered the achievement of 96.15% FAME yield at room temperature. It was found that an increase of 10 °C invariably deactivated the lipase, but was compensated by the enhanced FAME production rate with 96.15% FAME yield after only 4 h reaction time. Thus, 40 °C was considered the most suitable operating temperature for lipozyme TL IM to catalyze CPO transesterification.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Tan KT, Lee KT, Mohamed AR, Bhatia S (2009) Palm oil: addressing issues and towards sustainable development. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 13:420–427

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Janaun J, Ellis N (2010) Perspectives on biodiesel as a sustainable fuel. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 14:1312–1320

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Talukder MMR, Wu JC, Van Nguyen TB, Fen NM, Melissa YLS (2009) Novozym 435 for production of biodiesel from unrefined palm oil: comparison of methanolysis methods. J Mol Catal B Enzym 60:106–112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Fjerbaek L, Christensen KV, Norddahl B (2009) A review of the current state of biodiesel production using enzymatic transesterification. Biotechnol Bioeng 102:1298–1315

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Du W, Xu Y, Liu D (2003) Lipase-catalysed transesterification of soya bean oil for biodiesel production during continuous batch operation. Biotechnol Appl Biochem 38:103–106

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Li L, Du W, Liu D, Wang L, Li Z (2006) Lipase-catalyzed transesterification of rapeseed oils for biodiesel production with a novel organic solvent as the reaction medium. J Mol Catal B Enzym 43:58–62

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Xu Y, Du W, Zeng J, Liu D (2004) Conversion of soybean oil to biodiesel fuel using lipozyme TL IM in a solvent-free medium. Biocatal Biotransformation 22:45–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Sim JH, Kamaruddin AH, Bhatia S (2009) Effect of mass transfer and enzyme loading on the biodiesel yield and reaction rate in the enzymatic transesterification of crude palm oil. Energy Fuels J 23:4651–4658

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Zheng Y, Quan J, Ning X, Zhu LM, Jiang B, He ZY (2009) Lipase-catalyzed transesterification of soybean oil for biodiesel production in tert-amyl alcohol. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 25:41–46

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Halim SFA, Kamaruddin AH (2008) Catalytic studies of lipase on fame production from waste cooking palm oil in a tert-butanol system. Process Biochem 43:1436–1439

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Chang HM, Liao HF, Lee CC, Shieh CJ (2005) Optimized synthesis of lipase-catalyzed biodiesel by Novozym 435. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 80:307–312

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Chen X, Du W, Liu D (2008) Response surface optimization of biocatalytic biodiesel production with acid oil. Biochem Eng J 40:423–429

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Soumanou MM, Bornscheuer UT (2003) Improvement in lipase-catalyzed synthesis of fatty acid methyl esters from sunflower oil. Enzyme Microb Technol 33:97–103

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Park SH, Yoon SH, Suh HK, Lee CS (2008) Effect of the temperature variation on properties of biodiesel and biodiesel-ethanol blends fuels. Oil Gas Sci Technol 63:737–745

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Ettalibi M, Baratti JC (2001) Sucrose hydrolysis by thermostable immobilized inulinases from Aspergillus Ficuum. Enzyme Microb Technol 28:596–601

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Santos AMP, Oliveira MG, Maugeri F (2007) Modelling thermal stability and activity of free and immobilized enzymes as a novel tool for enzyme reactor design. Bioresour Technol 98:3142–3148

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Malaysia, for their financial support of the postgraduate study and project funding through the National Science Fellowship and Science Fund (project no. 02-01-05-SF0122). The research university grant (project no. 1001/PJKIMIA/814004) and research university postgraduate research grant scheme (project no. 1001/PJKIMIA/8031036) awarded by Universiti Sains Malaysia are also appreciated. Khor Guat Kheng from the School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), is kindly acknowledged for her technical support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Seri Ampangan, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia

    Jia Huey Sim, Azlina Harun Kamaruddin & Subhash Bhatia

Authors
  1. Jia Huey Sim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Azlina Harun Kamaruddin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Subhash Bhatia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Azlina Harun Kamaruddin.

About this article

Cite this article

Sim, J.H., Kamaruddin, A.H. & Bhatia, S. Biodiesel (FAME) Productivity, Catalytic Efficiency and Thermal Stability of Lipozyme TL IM for Crude Palm Oil Transesterification with Methanol. J Am Oil Chem Soc 87, 1027–1034 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-010-1593-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-010-1593-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation