BIOCATALYZED DEACIDIFICATION OF HYPERACID OILS IN A CONTINUOUS REACTOR

The conditions used in batch processing for deacidification of hyperac id oils through reesterification biocatalyzed by the lipases of free f atty acids with partial glycerides were used in a continuous system. A fter successively testing a fixed catalytic bed reactor, with and with out trapping of the water formed in situ, then a continuous reactor fe d by pressure difference, each time with no conclusive success, we dev eloped a continuous reactor at low pressure which gave satisfaction. T he results obtained were very encouraging, since the oil to be deacidi fied merely had to be passed through the reactor twice to reduce acidi ty by 90%.