Lipase-Catalyzed Glycerolysis of Soybean and Canola Oils in a Free Organic Solvent System Assisted by Ultrasound

This work shows new and promising experimental data of soybean oil and canola oil glycerolysis using Novozym 435 enzyme as catalyst in a solvent-free system using ultrasound bath for the emulsifier, monoglyceride (MAG), and diacylglycerol (DAG) production. The experiments were conducted in batch mode to study the influence of process variables as temperature (40 to 70 °C), immobilized enzyme content (2.5 to 10 wt%, relative to substrates), molar ratio glycerol/oil (0.8:1 to 3:1), agitation (0 to 1200 rpm) and ultrasound intensity (0 to 132 W cm−2). Highest yields of DAG+MAG (75 wt%) were obtained with molar ratio glycerol/canola oil 0.8:1, 70 °C, 900 rpm, 120 min of reaction time, 10 wt% of enzyme concentration, and 52.8 W cm−2 of ultrasound intensity. When soybean oil was used, the best results in terms of DAG+MAGs (65 wt%) were using molar ratio of glycerol/soybean oil 0.8:1, 70 °C, 900 rpm, 90 min of reaction time, 10 wt% of enzyme content, and 40 % of ultrasound intensity (52.8 W cm−2). The results showed that the lipase-catalyzed glycerolysis in a solvent-free system with ultrasound bath can be a potential route for high content production of DAGs and MAGs