Skip to main content
Log in

Optimization of operational conditions for adipate ester synthesis in a stirred tank reactor

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Esterification of adipic acid and oleyl alcohol in a solvent-free system featuring a stirred tank reactor containing commercially immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B was performed. The process was carried out using an artificial neural network (ANN) trained by the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm. The effects of four operative variables, temperature, time, amount of enzyme, and impeller speed, on the reaction yield were studied. By examining different ANN configurations, the best network was found to consist of seven hidden nodes using a hyperbolic tangent sigmoid transfer function. The values of the coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean squared error (RMSE) between the actual and predicted responses were determined to be 1 and 0.0058178 for training and 0.99467 and 0.622540 for the testing datasets, respectively. These results imply that the developed model was capable of predicting the esterification yield. The operative variables affected the yield, and their order of contribution was as follows: time > amount of enzyme > temperature > impeller speed. A high percentage of yield (95.7%) was obtained using a low level of enzyme (2.5% w/w), and the temperature, time, and impeller speed were 66.5°C, 354 min (about 6 h), and 500 rpm, respectively. A simple protocol for efficient substrate conversion in a solvent-free system evidenced by high enzyme stability is indicative of successful ester synthesis.

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

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gryglewicz, S., M. Stankiewicz, F. A. Oko, and I. Surawska (2006) Esters of dicarboxylic acids as additives for lubricating oils. Tribol. Int. 39: 560–564.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Abdul Rahman, M. B., U. H. Zaidan, M. Basri, M. Z. Hussein, R. N. Z. A. Rahman, and A. B. Salleh (2008) Enzymatic synthesis of methyl adipate ester using lipase from Candida rugosa immobilized on Mg, Zn and Ni of layered double hydroxides (LDHs). J. Mol. Catal. B Enzym. 50: 33–39.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Yadav, G. D. and P. S. Lathi (2005) Synergism of microwaves and immobilized enzyme catalysis in synthesis of adipic acid esters in nonaqueous media. Synthetic Commun. 35: 1699–1705.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Demirkol, S., H. A. Aksoy, M. Tuter, G. Ustun, and D. A. Sasmaz (2006) Optimization of enzymatic methanolysis of soybean oil by response surface methodology. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 83: 929–932.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Abdul Rahman, M. B., N. Chaibakhsh, M. Basri, R. N. Z. A. Rahman, A. B. Salleh, and S. M. Radzi (2008) Modeling and optimization of lipase-catalyzed synthesis of dilauryl adipate ester by response surface methodology. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 83: 1534–1540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bezbradica, D., D. Mijin, S. Siler-Marinkovic, and Z. Knezevic (2007) The effect of substrate polarity on the lipase-catalyzed synthesis of aroma esters in solvent-free systems. J. Mol. Catal. B Enzym. 45: 97–101.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Basri, M., R. N. Z. A. Rahman, A. Ebrahimpour, A. B. Salleh, E. R. Gunawan, and M. B. Abdul Rahman (2007) Comparison of estimation capabilities of response surface methodology (RSM) with artificial neural network (ANN) in lipase catalyzed synthesis of palm-based wax ester. BMC Biotechnol. 7: 53–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Link, H. and D. Weuster-Botz (2006) Genetic algorithm for multi-objective experimental optimization. Bioproc.Biosyst. Eng. 29: 385–390.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Manohar, B. and S. Divakar (2005) An artificial neural network analysis of porcine pancreas lipase catalyzed esterification of anthranilic acid with methanol. Proc. Biochem. 40: 3372–3376.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Prateepchaikul, G., K. Somnuk, and M. Allen (2009) Design and testing of continuous acid-catalyzed esterification reactor for high free fatty acid mixed crude palm oil. Fuel Proc. Technol. 90: 784–789.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Pavia, D. L., G. M. Lampman, and G. S. Kriz (2009) Introduction to Spectroscopy. 4th ed., pp. 477–478. Cengage Learning, Belmont, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Jenkins, W. M. (1997) An introduction to neural computing for the structural engineer. The Struct. Eng. 75: 38–41.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Franco-Lara, E., H. Link, and D. Weuster-Botz (2006) Evaluation of artificial neural networks for modelling and optimization of medium composition with a genetic algorithm. Proc. Biochem. 41: 2200–2206.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Al-Daoud, E. (2009) A comparison between three neural network models for classification problems. J. Artif. Intell. 2: 56–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Duch, W. and R. Adamczak (2001) Constructive density estimation network based on several different separable transfer functions. Proceedings of the European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks (ESANN’2001). April 25–27. Bruges, Belgium.

  16. Linko, S., Y. H. Zhu, and P. Linko (1999) Applying neural networks as software sensors for enzyme engineering. Trends Biotechnol. 17: 155–162.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Dong, Y., M. Shao, and X. Tai (2008) An adaptive counter propagation network based on soft competition. Pattern Recog. Lett. 29: 938–949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Keng, P. S., M. Basri, A. B. Ariff, M. B. Abdul Rahman, R. N. Z. A. Rahman, and A. B. Salleh (2008) Scale-up synthesis of lipasecatalyzed palm esters in stirred-tank reactor. Bioresour. Technol. 99: 6097–6104.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Chaibakhsh, N., M. B. Abdul Rahman, S. Abd-Aziz, M. Basri, A. B. Salleh, and R. N. Z. R. A. Rahman (2009) Optimized lipase-catalyzed synthesis of adipate ester in a solvent-free system. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 36: 1149–1155.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Cos, O., R. Ramon, J. L. Montesinos, and F. Valero (2006) Operational strategies, monitoring and control of heterologous protein production in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris under different promoters: A review. Microb. Cell Fact. 5: 17–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Williams, J. A. (2002) Bioreactors: Keys to Bioreactor Selection. Chem. Eng. Prog. 98: 34–41.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Malcata, F. X. (1995) Cost minimization in the predesign of an enzymatic CSTR: An overall approach. Bioproc. Eng. 13: 51–55.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohd Basyaruddin Abdul Rahman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chaibakhsh, N., Rahman, M.B.A., Vahabzadeh, F. et al. Optimization of operational conditions for adipate ester synthesis in a stirred tank reactor. Biotechnol Bioproc E 15, 846–853 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-010-0001-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-010-0001-7

Keywords

Navigation