Microwave assisted enzymatic synthesis of biodiesel with waste cooking oil and dimethyl carbonate

Biodiesel is considered to be a good alternative in renewable energy generation; therefore it is well studied throughout for its efficient, economic and greener production. Present study illustrated the use of waste cooking oil and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) as a reactants, enzyme as catalyst that facilitated the biodiesel production by providing low cost reactant, ecofriendly methodology and glycerol carbonate as marketable by-product. It also includes resolution to the problems conjured using above combination like prolonged reaction time by applying microwave technology. Additionally the rate of reaction, activation energy and advantages of microwave technology over conventional method in terms of reduced requirement of DMC is also summarized in this manuscript. It is found that, about 94% conversion was obtained in just four hours using microwave irradiation when operated at optimised parameters which include temperature, enzyme loading, water content, molar ratio reactants and addition of surfactant. Lipase 435 used as a catalyst was found to recover 88% of its activity after catalysing six successive reaction cycles. Biodiesel obtained was observed to fit ASTM D 6751 standards after least downstream steps.