Moving towards a Competitive Fully Enzymatic Biodiesel Process

• Main Authors: Silvia Cesarini, F. I. Javier Pastor, Per M. Nielsen, Pilar Diaz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015-06-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: biodiesel; lipase; enzyme improvement; crude oil; enzyme immobilization; transesterification; phospholipase; degumming
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/6/7884

Enzymatic biodiesel synthesis can solve several problems posed by the alkaline-catalyzed transesterification but it has the drawback of being too expensive to be considered competitive. Costs can be reduced by lipase improvement, use of unrefined oils, evaluation of soluble/immobilized lipase preparations, and by combination of phospholipases with a soluble lipase for biodiesel production in a single step. As shown here, convenient natural tools have been developed that allow synthesis of high quality FAMEs (EN14214) from unrefined oils in a completely enzymatic single-step process, making it fully competitive.