Kinetic characterisation of enzymatic esterification in a solvent system: adsorptive control of water with molecular sieves

The kinetics of enzymatic esterification of glycerol with oleic acid, in equimolar ratio, catalyzed by immobilized Mucor miehei lipase in a solvent system in the presence of the molecular sieves was carried out at 37°C at different Lipozym and solvent (n-hexane) concentrations and the molecular sieve contents were studied in a batch stirred-tank reactor (BSTR). The reactions were followed by the determination of reaction conversions during 45 h. The experimental data of enzymatic esterification of glycerol with oleic acid in a solvent system in the presence of molecular sieves showed minimal deviation from the calculated value in the irreversible second order kinetic model. On the basis of the experimental data, we found an empirical correlation between concentrations of Lipozym, concentrations of solvent (n-hexane), contents of the molecular sieve and the reaction rate constant, k1.