KINETIC MODELING OF ESTERIFICATION REACTIONS CATALYZED BY IMMOBILIZEDLIPASES

The kinetics of the synthesis of several esters of different chain len gth and physical properties was studied. A commercial Candida antarcti ca lipase was used as catalyst for the synthesis of oleyl oleate, isop ropyl oleate, isopropyl palmitate, myristyl myristate, cetyl oleate, a nd oleyl 2-methylbutyrate. A general kinetic model was derived and tes ted experimentally for the synthesis of the above esters. The general kinetic model took a different shape for each particular esterificatio n reaction, depending on the significance of the different terms. The corresponding parameters were calculated by non-linear regression. The kinetic models were found to describe the experimental values adequat ely.