Probiotic lipase derived from Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus brevis for biodiesel production from waste cooking olive oil: an alternative feedstock

ABSTRACT

Lipases from various origins such as fungi and bacteria have been largely explored for various applications including biofuel production. Keeping the environmental and health concerns into consideration, we employed lipases derived from probiotic sources like L. plantarum and L. brevis for biodiesel production from the gold standard fresh and used olive oil. These lipases have been used to optimize various parameters such as molar ratio of methanol to oil, enzyme loading, reaction temperature, and stirring rate that determine the biodiesel yield. The lipases have been explored in their native and immobilized forms in order to obtain maximum biodiesel conversion. Among the two sources of enzymes, lipase derived from L. plantarum is found to be more efficient in biodiesel production. With the optimal reaction conditions, the maximum biodiesel production using immobilized lipase from L. plantarum with fresh and used olive oil is found to be 81% and 67%, respectively. The biodiesel thus obtained has also been studied for its suitability to be used as a fuel in diesel engine that could meet the viscosity and density limits set by ASTM D 6751.

KEYWORDS:

• Probiotic
• biodiesel
• lipase
• transesterification
• olive oil

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani Hyderabad campus for their financial support. All technical staff in the Biological Sciences department and Central Analytical Laboratory of BITS, Hyderabad campus, are greatly acknowledged for their kind assistance.