Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil.
Laboratory of Agroindustrial Processes Engineering (LAPE), Federal University of Santa Maria, Cachoeira do Sul, RS, Brazil.
Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 2020 Jul;67(4):648-667. doi: 10.1002/bab.1835. Epub 2019 Nov 11.
Enzymatic synthesis of biodiesel showed advantageous characteristics in relation to other technologies once it works under bland conditions, no generation of wastewater, no occurrence of saponifications reactions and production of a biodiesel with high quality. Although many researches still apply immobilized lipases, the high costs associated with this biocatalyst hamper the economic viability of the process. Lipases in free/soluble/liquid formulation employed to biodiesel production via hydroesterification reaction have attracted interest from researchers because they are more cost effective than the immobilized form, making the enzymatic route more competitive. In addition, soluble lipases present higher reaction rates, reducing the time required to obtain a satisfactory biodiesel yield. Despite the fact that already exist industrial plants producing biodiesel with the assistance of lipases in liquid formulation, results of researches show that the process still needs to overcome some drawbacks. This paper is a comprehensive and critical discussion on the publications where soluble lipases were applied on biodiesel synthesis, as well as the challenges that the technology faces and its current status in pilot and industrial applications.
酶法合成生物柴油具有诸多优势，与其他技术相比，它在温和条件下进行，不产生废水，不会发生皂化反应，并且可以生产出高质量的生物柴油。尽管许多研究仍在使用固定化脂肪酶，但这种生物催化剂的高成本阻碍了该过程的经济可行性。用于通过水酯交换反应生产生物柴油的游离/可溶性/液体形式的脂肪酶引起了研究人员的兴趣，因为它们比固定化形式更具成本效益，使酶法路线更具竞争力。此外，可溶性脂肪酶具有更高的反应速率，从而减少了获得令人满意的生物柴油产率所需的时间。尽管已经有使用液体形式的脂肪酶生产生物柴油的工业工厂，但研究结果表明，该工艺仍需要克服一些缺点。本文对已发表的关于可溶性脂肪酶在生物柴油合成中的应用的文献进行了全面和批判性的讨论，以及该技术面临的挑战及其在中试和工业应用中的现状。
