Biodiesel production from phoenix tree seed oil catalyzed by liquid lipozyme TL100L

Abstract

Biodiesel is a green and sustainable energy, which is a fatty acid alkyl ester as an alternative to petroleum diesel. In the work, phoenix tree seed oil, one kind of undeveloped woody plant resource, was used as the novel raw material for biodiesel preparation. Several free liquid lipases were used as biocatalysts to catalyze the transesterification of phoenix tree seed oil (PTSO) with methanol. Effects of transesterification variables (enzyme load, substrate ratio, transesterification time and temperature) on biodiesel preparation were evaluated and optimized using RSM. Results showed that PTSO was a good alternative for biodiesel preparation. Among these tested free liquid lipases, lipozyme TL100L from Thermomyces laguginosus showed the best performance for the transesterification. Transesterification variables were optimized and the maximum biodiesel yield (98.8 ± 1.1%) was achieved under the optimal conditions (enzyme load 10%, transesterification temperature 30 °C, substrate ratio (PTSO to methanol) 1:5 (mol/mol) and reaction time 6.98 h). The activation energy of biodiesel formation was 21.3 kJ/mol. Kinetic parameters K’m and Vmax were 2.55 × 10−1 mol/L and 6.9 × 10−3 mol/(L·min), respectively.