(97d) Production of Diacylglycerols Using Lipase-Catalyzed Esterification of Glycerol and Caprylic Acid in a Packed Bed Reactor

Abstract: Diacylglycerols(DAG) was
synthesized through esterification of caprylic acid and glycerol,  as well
as glycerolysis of medium-chain triacylglycerols(GTCC), catalyzed by lipase Novozym
435(from Candida Antarctica), respectively. A comparative study of the esterification
was conducted in a batch reactor and a packed bed reactor, respectively. The
effect of reaction parameters, such as solvent, temperature, molar ratio
of the reactants, water removal, enzyme loading and ratio of height to
diameter of the reactor on the conversion of caprylic acid and the DAG content in
the reaction mixture were studied. The conversion of caprylic acid and the content of DAG
esterification in the packed bed reactor reached 82.30% and 77.26%,
respectively, by using 200U
/g caprylic
acid at a space velocity of 34h^-1, 60^oC in 7h; while the esterification in the
batch reactor present a caprylic acid conversion of 83.91% and a DAG content of 68.24% with 50U /g caprylic acid at 60^oC in 10h. The glycerolysis in
t-butanol yielded 26.26% of monoacylglycerols (MAG), 36.02% of DAG, with a GTCC
conversion of 60% under the optimum conditions.