RT Journal Article
T1 Enzymatic butanolysis of coconut oil. Biorefinery approach
A1 Bouaid Bouaid, Abderrahim
A1 Acherki, Hassan
A1 García, Alicia
A1 Martinez, Mercedes
A1 Aracil Mira, José
AB The biorefinery approach, consisting in the transesterification of a low cost and sustainable coconut oil, using enzymatic catalysis with butanol as alcohol to realize a completely green bio-process. The proposed biorefinery approach uses an integrated process for the production of two fractions, the first one LMWBE (low molecular weight) caprylate, caprate, laurate and myristate butyl esters which can be used as high values chemicals (due to their numerous applications in cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food industries), the second remaining fraction HMWBE (high molecular weight) palmitate, stearate and oleate butyl esters could be used as a promising substitute for conventional fuels, since it matches the European Biodiesel Standard EN 14214. The influence of variables such as temperature, catalyst concentration and alcohol/oil molar ratio on the production of both fractions has been studied and optimized by means of factorial design and response surface methodology (RSM). The obtained models are useful to determine the optimum operating conditions for an up-scaled industrial process, using a minimum number of experiments, with the consequent benefits from an economical point of view. However from a technical point of view, the highest possible yield for the more valuable LMWBE fraction should be targeted, consequently a catalyst concentration of 5.8% an alcohol/oil molar ratio of 6.2:1 and an operation temperature of 65  C should be chosen. According to these conditions, conversion rates of 74% and 24% for LMWBE and HMWBE, respectively, could be obtained.The preparation of the products is a green engineering process, clean, solvent-free, with a very selective catalyst that minimizes water and energy consumption and the downstream processing of the integratedprocess
PB Elsevier
SN 0016-2361
YR 2017
FD 2017
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/97566
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/97566
LA eng
NO Bouaid, Abderrahim ; Acherki, Hassan ; García, Alicia ; Martinez, Mercedes ; Aracil, Jose. Enzymatic butanolysis of coconut oil. Biorefinery approach. Fuel, Volume 209, Pages 141 - 1492017
NO European Commission
DS Docta Complutense
RD 8 jun 2025