Lipase-catalysed production of biodiesel fuel from some Nigerian lauric oils

Abstract

Fatty acids esters were produced from two Nigerian lauric oils, palm kernel oil and coconut oil, by transesterification of the oils with different alcohols using PS30 lipase as a catalyst. In the conversion of palm kernel oil to alkyl esters (biodiesel), ethanol gave the highest conversion of 72%, t-butanol 62%, 1-butanol 42%, n-propanol 42% and iso-propanol 24%, while only 15% methyl ester was observed with methanol. With coconut oil, 1-butanol and iso-butanol achieved 40% conversion, 1-propanol 16% and ethanol 35%, while only traces of methyl esters were observed using methanol. Studies on some fuel properties of palm kernel oil and its biodiesel showed that palm kernel oil had a viscosity of 32.40 mm2/s, a cloud point of 28°C and a pour point of 22°C, while its biodiesel fuel had a viscosity of 9.33 mm2/s, a cloud point of 12°C and a pour point of 8°C. Coconut oil had a viscosity of 28.58 mm2/s, a cloud point of 27°C and a pour point of 20°C, while its biodiesel fuel had a viscosity of 7.34 mm2/s, a cloud point of 5°C and a pour point of - 8°C. Some of the fuel properties compared favourably with international biodiesel specifications.

Immobilization of Lipases onto Magnetic Fe3O4 Nanoparticles for Application in Biodiesel Production

“…This is consistent with the results from Abigor et al, who reported in the conversion of palm kernel oil to methyl esters that only 15 % methyl esters were obtained with methanol. [19] Higher conversion rates were obtained with the immobilized lipase L3 (Figure 3 c). In 100 mL flasks, during the first two cycles, the conversion rate was maintained at a high value of more than 55 %.…”

Impact of transesterification mechanisms on the kinetic modeling of biodiesel production by immobilized lipase

“…Several researchers have investigated biodiesel production from palm oil using immobilized lipases [10,11]. However, these studies focused on a series of experiments to optimize production while the dynamics and equilibrium of the enzymatic reaction could not be investigated experimentally.…”

A Laboratory Study of the Effect of Temperature on Densities and Viscosities of Binary and Ternary Blends of Soybean Oil, Soy Biodiesel and Petroleum Diesel Oil

“…However, there are some drawbacks of biodiesel like higher cost and cold flow properties. Among the possible raw materials for the production of biodiesel, the use of rapeseed oil, canola oil, soybean oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, cotton seed oil and citrus seeds oil has been investigated [5,[18][19][20][21][22]. Several studies on binary blends of biodiesel and diesel fuel or vegetable oils have been investigated, but not much has been done on ternary blends of biodiesel, diesel fuels and vegetable oils.…”