Tuesday, April 20, 2010
10-25

Biodiesel production by enzymatic-chemical hydroesterification of soybean oil

Elisa D. Cavalcanti-Oliveira1, Priscila R. Silva1, Alessandra P. Ramos1, Joab S. Sousa1, Donato A. G. Aranda2, and Denise M. G. Freire1. (1) Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Avenida Athos da Silveira Ramos , 149, CEP 21941-909, Prédio do Centro de Tecnologia, Bloco A, 5 andar, Lab. 549-1, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (2) Departamento de Engenharia Química, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Avenida Athos da Silveira Ramos , 149, CEP 21941-909, Prédio do Centro de Tecnologia, Bloco A, 5 andar, Lab. 549-1, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

   The replacement of petroleum diesel by biodiesel has been worldwide encouraged because it is from a renewable source and less pollutant. The process of biodiesel production by enzymatic-chemical hydroesterification route proposed in this work is an alternative to the traditional alkaline transesterification one. At the fist stage it was investigated the use of  three lipases to catalyze the hydrolysis reaction of the soybean oil to generate fatty acids and glycerol: the commercial lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosa (TL 100L) and low cost lipases extracted from the dormant seed of castor bean (Ricinus communis) and from the germinated seed of physic nut (Jatropha curcas). The reactions were conducted with 50% of soybean oil, 2.5% of enzymatic extract, in buffer, without solvent or emulsifier, and had gotten conversions of 91%, 97% and 90%, respectively. The second stage, the esterification reaction of the fatty acids with an alcohol, was carried out under reaction conditions of molar ratio fatty acid:methanol of 1:3 or fatty acid:ethanol of 1:4, niobic acid catalyst at concentration of 20 %(w/w of free fatty acids) or without catalyst, at 200ºC, for 1h, obtaining around 92% of conversion in soy methyl esters for all the tested biocatalysts.

See more of Poster Session Two
See more of General Submissions

See more of The 32nd Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals (April 19-22, 2010)