Effect of Frying on Bio-Catalyzed Hydrolysis and Transesterification of used Soybean Oil

Abstract

Biodiesel consists of long-chain fatty acid esters produced by transesterification reaction of vegetable oils with short chain alcohol using some catalyst or even used cooking. Amongst the various catalysts used for facilitating transesterification reaction, biocatalysts using either enzymes or whole-cells are gaining interest amongst researchers. As an alternative to enzymes which are cost-intensive, whole cell catalysts are getting increasingly popular. The present study entitled, “Effect of frying on biocatalyzed hydrolysis and transesterification of used soyabean oil” was therefore focused to achieve twin objectives of (a) exploiting the potential of a fungus strain Aspergillus sp. (RBD01), as dry biomass, for catalyzing transesterification, and (b) using the used-soybean oil as raw material for generating alkyl esters through transesterification. The observations obtained in this study could demonstrate the use of dry biomass of a fungus isolate, Aspergillus sp. (RBD01) for exploting its potential to transesterify used cooking oil and esterify fatty acids.