Biodiesel Production Using Palm Oil with a MOF-Lipase B Biocatalyst from Candida Antarctica: A Kinetic and Thermodynamic Study

This research presents the results of the immobilization of Candida Antarctica Lipase B (CALB) on MOF-199 and ZIF-8 and its use in the production of biodiesel through the transesterification reaction using African Palm Oil (APO). The results show that the highest adsorption capacity, the 26.9 mg·g(−1) Lipase, was achieved using ZIF-8 at 45 °C and an initial protein concentration of 1.20 mg·mL(−1). The results obtained for the adsorption equilibrium studies allow us to infer that CALB was physically adsorbed on ZIF-8 while chemically adsorbed with MOF-199. It was determined that the adsorption between Lipase and the MOFs under study better fit the Sips isotherm model. The results of the kinetic studies show that adsorption kinetics follow the Elovich model for the two synthesized biocatalysts. This research shows that under the experimental conditions in which the studies were carried out, the adsorption processes are a function of the intraparticle and film diffusion models. According to the results, the prepared biocatalysts showed a high efficiency in the transesterification reaction to produce biodiesel, with methanol as a co-solvent medium. In this work, the catalytic studies for the imidazolate, ZIF-8, presented more catalytic activity when used with CALB. This system presented 95% biodiesel conversion, while the biocatalyst formed by MOF-199 and CALB generated a catalytic conversion percentage of 90%. Although both percentages are high, it should be noted that CALB-MOF-199 presented better reusability, which is due to chemical interactions.