Biocatalysis has seen much use in research, but the number of industrial applications is still limited. Part of the reason for this is the lack of cost-effective processes due to limited stability of the biocatalyst and productivity  in several cases. One of the most important factors in order to achieve an economically feasible process is the operational stability of the enzyme, which is influenced by the choice of enzyme, catalyst formulation (e.g. immobilization technique and matrix) as well as the reaction conditions. In this work the enzyme stability and productivity has been studied for the synthesis of polyester acrylates, wax esters and epoxidized fatty acids. All reactions were catalyzed by immobilized lipase preparations. The acrylation reaction proved to be competitive with the traditional chemical production methods, while the epoxidation reaction needs further optimization regarding the choice of enzyme and reaction conditions to achieve a viable process.

Improving productivity and enzyme stability through process design: Lipase-catalyzed synthesis of epoxides and esters

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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