HYDROLYSIS OF RICEBRAN OIL IN A FLUIDIZED-BED RECYCLE REACTOR USING IMMOBILIZED LIPASE ON NYLON-6

A recycling fluidised-bed immobilised enzyme reactor for the hydrolysi s of ricebran oil employing an inexpensive Nylon-6 matrix as the immob ilisation carrier is described. The catalyst has high initial activity and excellent long term stability. The reactor design exploits the fa ct that fluidisation permits the use of small catalyst particles, so o vercoming the yield-limiting diffusion-associated problems encountered in the case of conventional fixed-bed reactors. The conventional flui dised-bed reactor did not suffer from plugging and high pressure drop problems typical of fixed-bed reactors. Conversion yields of 72% were achieved in the reactor, which generally showed superior performance t o that of a fixed-bed design.