Moving towards a Competitive Fully Enzymatic Biodiesel Process

Silvia Cesarini, F. I. Javier Pastor, Per M. Nielsen and Pilar Diaz
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Silvia Cesarini: Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
F. I. Javier Pastor: Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Per M. Nielsen: Department Bioenergy Opportunities, NOVOZYMES A/S, Krogshoejvej 36, 2880 Bagsvaerd, Denmark
Pilar Diaz: Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: biodiesel; lipase; enzyme improvement; crude oil; enzyme immobilization; transesterification; phospholipase; degumming (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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