Improved performance of a packed-bed reactor for biodiesel production through whole-cell biocatalysis employing a high-lipase-expression system

To improve enzymatic biodiesel production, we developed a packed-bed reactor (PBR) system using recombinant cells, into which a strong enolase promoter and 5' untranslated region were introduced. Aspergillus oryzae expressing Fusarium heterosporum lipase was immobilized within biomass support particles (BSPs) during cultivation and used directly as a whole-cell biocatalyst. BSP-immobilized A. oryzae carrying three copies of the expression cassette showed a higher performance than previously developed cell systems, resulting in 87.5% conversion after 10 passes in PBR. The performance was also affected by operational factors including residence time and methanol feeding. After optimization, the PBR system attained a final methyl ester content of 96.1% with a residence time of 140 min per pass and stepwise addition of 4.25 molar equivalents of methanol to oil for 6 passes. Moreover, lipase activity was maintained for 5 batch cycles. Therefore, the developed PBR employing a high-lipase-expression system is considered useful for improving enzymatic biodiesel production. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.