Liquid lipase preparations designed for industrial production of biodiesel. Is it really an optimal solution?

Abstract

There are growing demands by the biodiesel companies to get cheap lipase formulation, preferably in liquid forms, which can give an answer to their needs. Thus, many commercial or home-produced enzymes are being used in this process in free form. Among these enzymes, Eversa is a liquid lipase formulation derived from the lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus designed for the enzymatic biodiesel production. The potential of this promising enzyme is hereby reported. However, the specificity of lipases is a problem in biodiesel production. That way the concept of an optimal lipase for biodiesel production is not appropriate, being preferable the use of concept of combi-lipases, using Eversa as a component of the lipase mixture. The application of Eversa for the production of biodiesel through the transesterification, esterification and hydroesterification of oils and fats with different free fatty acids content is thoroughly discussed. Finally, even though Eversa was launched to be used as liquid biocatalyst in the production of biodiesel, this work will discuss how the immobilization of this enzyme through different strategies enhances its performance. That is, a properly designed immobilized Eversa biocatalyst may be more expensive, but it may have some advantages that overcome this drawback.