Effect of feedstocks and chain length of alcohols on whole-cell-catalyzed generation of alkyl esters

The dried biomass of a whole-cell catalyst was used for thegeneration of alkyl esters from cottonseed oil and acid oil with different alcohols (methanol to decanol) as acyl acceptors. The conversion of alkyl esters increased from methanol (12%) to pentanol (96%), followed by decreased from hexanol (86%) to decanol (64%) in case of acid oil. The extent of transesterification was significantly higher (P<0.01) in case of acid oil, with most of the acyl acceptors as compared to cottonseed oil. The study demonstrates the use of dried biomass of fungus as catalyst and an effective feedstock such as acid oil, for thegeneration of various industrially important alkyl esters.