Lipase Catalyzed Reactions: A Promising Approach for Clean Synthesis of Oleochemicals

Abstract

Oleochemicals are chemicals derived from oils and fats. Several industrial processes, such as splitting, distillations, and fractionation, are carried out to convert oils and fats into basic oleochemicals such as fatty acids and glycerin. These fatty acids can be further esterified to produce value-added oleochemicals. Usually, the esterification reaction is carried out using chemical catalysts such as mineral acids. Such chemicals pose threats to the environment owing to their trace presence in effluents. Furthermore, the chemically catalyzed esterification reaction is an energy-intensive reaction that harms the environment. Recently lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis/esterification reaction has received much attention. Besides the biodegradability nature of lipases, they can catalyze the reaction at milder temperatures and produce no toxic by-products. The techno-economic assessment has proved the feasibility of enzyme technology compared to replace chemistry-based routes. This chapter focuses on oleochemicals’ sustainable production through various processes. The processes include esterification, transesterification, and interesterification.