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Biocatalytic Behaviour of Immobilized Rhizopus oryzae Lipase in the 1,3-Selective Ethanolysis of Sunflower Oil to Obtain a Biofuel Similar to Biodiesel

2014; Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; Volume: 19; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3390/molecules190811419

1433-1373

Carlos Luna, Cristóbal Verdugo‐Escamilla, Enrique Sancho, Diego Luna, Juan Calero, Alejandro Posadillo, Felipa M. Bautista, Antonio A. Romero,

Biofuel production and bioconversion

A new biofuel similar to biodiesel was obtained in the 1,3-selective transesterification reaction of sunflower oil with ethanol using as biocatalyst a Rhizopus oryzae lipase (ROL) immobilized on Sepiolite, an inorganic support. The studied lipase was a low cost powdered enzyme preparation, Biolipase-R, from Biocon-Spain, a multipurpose additive used in food industry. In this respect, it is developed a study to optimize the immobilization procedure of these lipases on Sepiolite. Covalent immobilization was achieved by the development of an inorganic-organic hybrid linker formed by a functionalized hydrocarbon chain with a pendant benzaldehyde, bonded to the AlPO4 support surface. Thus, the covalent immobilization of lipases on amorphous AlPO4/sepiolite (20/80 wt %) support was evaluated by using two different linkers (p-hydroxybenzaldehyde and benzylamine-terephthalic aldehyde, respectively). Besides, the catalytic behavior of lipases after physical adsorption on the demineralized sepiolite was also evaluated. Obtained results indicated that covalent immobilization with the p-hydroxybenzaldehyde linker gave the best biocatalytic behavior. Thus, this covalently immobilized lipase showed a remarkable stability as well as an excellent capacity of reutilization (more than five successive reuses) without a significant loss of its initial catalytic activity. This could allow a more efficient fabrication of biodiesel minimizing the glycerol waste production.