Enzymatic production of biodiesel from microalgal oil using ethyl acetate as an acyl acceptor

Microalgae have become an important source of biomass for biodiesel production. In enzymatic transesterification reaction, the enzyme activity is decreased in presence of alcohols. The use of different acyl acceptors such as methyl/ethyl acetate is suggested as an alternative and effective way to overcome this problem. In this study, ethyl acetate was used for the first time in the enzymatic production of biodiesel by using microalga, Chlorella vulgaris, as a triglyceride source. Enzymatic conversion of such fatty acids to biodiesel was catalyzed by Novozym 435 as an efficient immobilized lipase which is extensively used in biodiesel production. The best conversion yield of 66.71% was obtained at the ethyl acetate to oil molar ratio of 13:1 and Novozym 435 concentration of 40%, based on the amount of oil, and a time period of 72 h at 40℃. The results showed that ethyl acetate have no adverse effect on lipase activity and the biodiesel amount was not decreased even after seven transesterification cycles, so ethyl acetate has a great potential to be substituted for short-chain alcohols in transesterification reaction.