Application of Lipase in Manufacturing Biodiesel

Lipase is a kind of biocatalyst with great application potential and a wide range of applications. It is the general term for a class of enzymes that hydrolyze fat. It is widely used in food, chemistry and chemical industry, medicine and health, energy development and other fields.

In the field of energy development, biodiesel produced by lipase catalysis is a renewable clean energy source, which has attracted more and more attention due to its good environmental effects.

The synthesis of biodiesel requires the participation of catalysts, which are divided into acid, alkali and enzyme catalysts. The acid catalysis method has high requirements for raw oils and fats, which will produce a large amount of waste acid, and the catalyst is difficult to reuse; the alkali catalysis method requires the acid value of the raw material to be less than 1, the water content is less than 0.5%, the production process is complicated, and the process is prone to saponification; The method has mild reaction conditions, basically no requirement for the quality of raw oils and fats, easy collection of reaction products, and no discharge of pollutants.

The production of biodiesel by enzymatic catalysis uses the catalysis of lipase to realize the transesterification reaction between oil and short-chain alcohol. 

The enzymatic method has low requirements for raw materials, free fatty acids can be directly esterified by lipase, and the by-product glycerol is easily separated, which reduces production process requirements and production costs, and improves product quality.