Scale-up synthesis of lipase-catalyzed palm esters in stirred-tank reactor

Abstract

Lipase-catalyzed production of palm esters by alcoholysis of palm oil with oleyl alcohol in n-hexane was performed in 2L stirred-tank reactor (STR). Investigation on the performance of reactor operation was carried out in batch mode STR with single impeller mounted on the centrally located shaft. Rushton turbine (RT) impellers provide the highest reaction yield (95.8%) at lower agitation speed as compared to AL-hydrofoil (AL-H) and 2-bladed elephant ear (EE) impellers. Homogenous enzyme particles suspension was obtained at 250 rpm by using RT impeller. At higher impeller speed, the shear effect on the enzyme particles caused by agitation has decreased the reaction performance. Palm esters reaction mixture in STR follows Newtons' law due to the linear relation between the shear stress (tau) and shear rate (dupsilon/dy). High stability of Lipozyme RM IM was observed as shown by its ability to be repeatedly used to give high percentage yield (79%) of palm esters even after 15 cycles of reaction. The process was successfully scale-up to 75 L STR (50 L working volume) based on a constant impeller tip speed approach, which gave the yield of 97.2% after 5h reaction time.

Lipase-Catalyzed Synthesis of Kojic Acid Derivative in Bioreactors and the Analysis of Its Depigmenting and Antioxidant Activities

“…The rheological property of the reaction mixture might be one of the factors that determine the selection of the reactors. Several Newtonian-like mixture compounds, such as methyl ester and palm esters, were successfully synthesized in stirred tank reactors [24,25]. For adipate ester and sugar ester synthesis, slightly high agitation speed (500-600 rpm) was need to achieved maximum yield, where it may have related to their mixing property and viscosity [25].…”

“…Several Newtonian-like mixture compounds, such as methyl ester and palm esters, were successfully synthesized in stirred tank reactors [24,25]. For adipate ester and sugar ester synthesis, slightly high agitation speed (500-600 rpm) was need to achieved maximum yield, where it may have related to their mixing property and viscosity [25]. In the case of the synthesis of sucrose ester solutions, the changes in viscosity of sucrose ester solutions in dimethyl formamide (DMF) solvent were suggested due to basis of hydrogen-bond density, ester-ester/solvent-ester interactions, and mixed partial esters production [26].…”

Evaluation of Direct Esterification of Fatty Acid Derivative of Kojic Acid in Co-solvent System: A Statistical Approach

“…Then, the protein reagent consisting of oligomeric protein, glycoprotein, lipid constituents and globulins plus blanking buffer were added to the 24-well assay plate. The synthetic disc, which and indicates that the model has a very high correlation [19]. In this case, the R 2 was equal to 0.866914, and this coefficient value indicated that 86.69% of the variability in the response could be explained by the model.…”

Combination of modern plant breeding and enzyme technology to obtain highly enriched erucic acid from Crambe oil

“…Transesterification of vegetable oils to methyl esters to be used as biodiesel is carried out industrially [1] and fatty acids are used as building blocks in many products. In a typical example, a fatty acid is esterified with a fatty alcohol to produce a wax ester [2], or the wax ester is formed in the alcoholysis of a vegetable oil with a fatty alcohol [3]. Wax esters can be used for various applications, such as coatings for wood [4] or as ingredients for cosmetics [5].…”