Enzymatic In Situ Interesterification of Rapeseed Oil with Methyl Formate in Diesel Fuel Medium

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the process of enzymatic biodiesel synthesis by directly using rapeseed as a raw material, extracting the oil contained within and interesterifying with a mixture of methyl formate and mineral diesel, choosing the amount of mineral diesel so that the ratio between it and the rapeseed oil in the seeds was 9:1. As the final product of the interesterification process, a mixture of mineral diesel and biodiesel was obtained directly, which is conventionally produced by mixing the mineral diesel and biodiesel. The tests were performed using enzymatic catalysis using the lipase Lipozyme TL TIM. Process optimization was performed using the response surface methodology. A model describing the interaction of three independent variables and their influence on the yield of rapeseed oil methyl esters was developed. The physical and chemical indicators of the product obtained under optimal interesterification conditions were evaluated.

Keywords

• biodiesel
• interesterification
• rapeseed
• methyl formate
• diesel fuel