Investigation of Inorganic and Enzyme Based Materials Oriented to the Generation of Biodiesel

SILVANA R. MATKOVIC; JULIET F. NILSSON; GRACIELA M. VALLE; SUSANA R. MORCELLE DEL VALLE; MARÍA E. FAIT; CARLOS R. LLERENA SUSTER; LAURA E. BRIAND

Buzios

Simposio; VII Workshop on Biocatalysis and Biotransformations; 2014

Basic, acidic and enzymatic catalysts are currently investigated in order to develop new technologies in heterogeneous phase for the simplification of the production process of biodiesel. It is well known that heteropoly compounds (HPCs) with Keggin structure are suitable catalytic materials in esterification. Matkovic et al. showed that Wells Dawson type has a higher number of acid sites and acid strength than the Keggin heteropoly acid.1 Novozym® 435 is the commercial biocatalyst used industrially in production of biodiesel.2 Other sources of lipases are latices from the plant species Carica papaya and Araujia sericifera3, which are less studied in this kind of esterification reactions, and they could be interesting alternatives to Novozyme® 435 due to its easy production. In this context, the investigation and screening of potential catalysts in biodiesel production is presented.