Conversion of Palm Oil to Methyl and Ethyl Ester using Crude Enzymes

Biodiesel (methyl esters) is a clean alternative fuel which can be produced from many renewable resources. Palm oil like other vegetable oils can be used as feedstock for biodiesel production. It is processed through transesterification to produce palm oil methyl ester. Enzymatic reactions catalyzed by lipases are potentially excellent processes to produce biodiesel through the transesterification reaction. Enzymes have several advantages over chemical catalysts such as mild reaction conditions high specificity and renewability. Various microorganisms like bacteria and fungi produce different kinds of enzymes which could be used as catalysts in a series of degradation reactions. Enzymatic transesterification of crude palm oil with methanol was studied. The enzymes from the three bacterial strains with the most significant transesterification reactions were tested for yield of biodiesel by changing the molar ratio of alcohol to crude palm oil and by changing reaction temperature. The molar ratio of methanol to crude palm oil was varied in the range from 3:1 to 4:1. The reaction temperature was varied from 35°C to 60°C. It was found that the optimum ratio of methanol to crude palm oil is 3:1 and the optimum reaction temperature is 40°C.