Influence of the chain length of the fatty acids present in different oils and the pore diameter of the support on the catalytic activity of immobilized lipase for ethyl ester production

In this work, the effect of fatty acid chain length of different oils and the pore diameter of the biocatalyst were evaluated in the production of ethyl esters. Mesoporous organized silica MCM-41 and SBA-15 with pore diameters of 2.5 nm and 6.7 nm, respectively, were used for the lipase immobilization. The structural and textural characteristics of the supports and biocatalysts were verified by X-ray diffraction and nitrogen physisorption analyses. Pore size was the parameter with the most influence on the lipase loading and SBA-15 adsorbed more lipase. The combination of the chain length of the fatty acids presents in oils and the pore diameter of the biocatalyst influenced the lipase catalyst performance relative to the ethyl ester yield, indicating a preference for the medium-chain length fatty acid. (author)