Optimization of enzymatic production of biodiesel from castor oil in organic solvent medium

We studied the production of fatty acid ethyl esters from castor oil using n-hexane as solvent and two commercial lipases, Novozym 435 and Lipozyme IM, as catalysts. For this purpose, a Taguchi experimental design was adopted considering the following variables: temperature (35–65°C), water (0–10 wt/wt%), and enzyme (5–20 wt/wt%) concentrations and oil-to-ethanol molar ratio (1∶3 to 1∶10). An empirical model was then built so as to assess the main and cross-variable effects on the reaction conversion and also to maximize biodiesel production for each enzyme. For the system containing Novozym 435 as tatalyst the maximum conversion obtained was 81.4% at 65°C, enzyme concentration of 20 wt/wt%, water concentration of 0 wt/wt%, and oil-to-ethanol molar ratio of 1∶10. When the catalyst was Lipozyme IM, a conversion as high as 98% was obtained at 65°C, enzyme concentration of 20 wt/wt%, water concentration of 0 wt/wt%, and oil-to-ethanol molar ratio of 1∶3.