Strategies to remove water formed as by-product on the monoolein synthesis by enzymatic esterification performed on packed bed reactor

Different strategies to remove water generated on the monoolein synthesis by enzymatic esterification of oleic acid with glycerol were evaluated. Esterification reactions were catalyzed by Penicillium camembertii lipase immobilized on SiO₂-PVA and runs carried out on a packed bed reactor (PBR) under continuous mode. The use of molecular sieves was the selected technique to remove the water formed, and for this purpose, two experimental setups were performed: (1) reactor packed with alternate layers of molecular sieves and immobilized lipase and (2) three reactors in series having a water column extractor between two immobilized packed beds, making it possible to replace the saturated molecular sieves by a regenerated one at a given time. Continuous run without applying dehydration techniques to remove the formed water was used as a control. The best performance was obtained using a water column extractor as verified by an increase in the monoolein formation from 22 to 35%. This strategy also provided a good performance of the bed reactor as a result of the high operational stability estimated for the immobilized derivative (half-life = 19 days).