A facile enzymatic synthesis of partial glycerides in an up-flow column reactor

A facile solvent-free synthesis of partial glycerol caprylates/caprates was studied using an enzyme packed bed reactor (EPBR). In the up-flow EPBR, without addition of molecular sieves or vacuum, the highest conversion of caprylic acid reached 90.2% in 4 h. As a comparison, a same reaction executed in an enzyme batch reactor (EBR) present the highest conversion of caprylic acid of 88% in 9 h with similar reaction conditions. In addition, the EPBR represented a good operating stability than that in EBR. The conversion decrement was only 6.5% for caprylic acid and 4.5% for capric acid after 30 runs (180 h), respectively.