The Production of Biodiesel from Cottonseed Oil Using Rhizopus oryzae Whole Cell Biocatalysts

Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels which have become increasingly expensive in recent times. An alternate approach to alkaline biodiesel production is needed as catalyst miscibility with the glycerol by-product, generation of large amounts of waste water, and saponification of the feedstock are major disadvantages associated with the process. Lipases are water soluble enzymes which act as catalysts in many lipid based reactions. Reuse of lipases can significantly reduce cost of enzymatic biodiesel production; however retention of lipolytic activity still remains a challenge. Use of microbial cells immobilized on various surfaces like sponge, foam and plastics as biocatalysts instead of extracted enzyme could help overcome this problem. A novel, rigid biomass support with high surface area made from recyclable polyethylene (Bioblok(TM)) was used in this study.;Several fungal and bacterial species have been reported to possess appreciable levels of lipase activity. The biomass production and immobilization as well as lipase activity of three different species; Candida rugosa (ATCC ;The study investigated the influence of media composition and growth time of the R.oryzae whole cell biocatalysts, immobilized on the BSPs, for FAME production from cottonseed oil. R.oryzae BSPs grown in basal media supplemented with 1% (w/v) of glucose or oil or both for 48 h, 72 h or 90 h were used in a 36 h transesterification reaction with cottonseed oil and methanol. BSPs grown in both glucose and oil supplemented medium for 72 h had the highest conversion of 22.4% (wt/wt) and a biomass accumulation of 15.6 g (dry cell wt)/L. A reduction in dynamic viscosity of the reaction mixture from 47.3 centipoise to 30.6 centipoise was observed. The impact of moisture addition to the reaction mixture and use of ethanol as acylating agent on R.oryzae BSP fatty acid alkyl ester production was also tested. The presence of 10 wt % moisture in the reaction system had a significant effect (p ≤ 0.05) on the transesterification reaction with ethanol unlike methanol. Fatty acid ethyl ester concentration tripled from 39.3 to 129.1 g/L when moisture was added during transesterification .When oil to acyl acceptor ratio was increased from 1:3 and 1:6 to determine effect of excess alcohol on conversion, an ester conversion of 128.1 g/L for methanol and 129.1 g/L for ethanol were observed. Use of excess amount of acylating agent had a significant adverse effect (p ≤ 0.05) on the overall FAAE production due to deactivation of lipases on contact with large amounts of insoluble alcohol in the oil phase of the reaction.;The effect of short chain alcohols on the enzymatic transesterification of cottonseed oil using freeze dried Rhizopus oryzae biomass was examined with and without water addition using methanol, ethanol, 1-Propanol and 1-Butanol at various molar ratios. 1- Butanol in the absence of water resulted in a significantly higher (p . 0.1) conversion of cottonseed oil to 12.5 % fatty acid butyl esters (FABEs). Addition of 10 % water to the reaction mixture significantly reduced (p ≤ 0.1) conversion. No significant difference (p > 0.1) between the conversions was observed for time points after 24 h for a 72 h reaction. 1- Butanol in ratios higher than 3:1 to cottonseed oil had a significant impact (p ≤ 0.1) on conversion. Increasing the amount of biomass used during the reaction lead to significantly higher conversion (p ≤ 0.1). The highest conversion of 27.9 % was observed for the transesterification reaction between cottonseed oil and 1-Butanol, in a 1:6 molar ratio, in the absence of water, when 100 mg of freeze dried R.oryzae biomass was used.;The present study concluded that R.oryzae biomass attached better to the Bioblok. material and had highest lipase activity when grown in presence of oil and glucose for 72h. Addition of water to the reaction system gave higher fatty acid alkyl ester conversion when whole immobilized R.oryzae BSPs were used but absence of water promoted conversion with freeze dried biomass.