Chemo-Enzymatic Epoxidation of Lallemantia IbericaSeed Oil: Process Development and Economic-Ecological Evaluation

The chemo-enzymatic epoxidation of Lallemantia iberica seed oil (LISO), a novel plant oil characterized by its exceptional high content of alpha-linolenic acid (> 60%), was developed using an immobilized lipase from Pseudozyma antarctica and hydrogen peroxide as oxidant. A statistical approach was used to study the effect of enzyme amount, temperature, time, and solvent amount on the oxirane oxygen content obtained during epoxidation. An oxirane oxygen content of 8.6 ± 0.2% corresponding to a yield of 82% was obtained under optimized conditions that were identified to be at an enzyme load of 8.2 g/mol of double bonds, a solvent amount of 56.4 wt.%, a temperature of 33 °C, and an incubation time of 17 h. In addition, the experimental investigation was combined with a techno-economic and ecological assessment gaining detailed information regarding cost structure and environmental impact for the chemo-enzymatic epoxidation of the novel plant oil.