Cleaner and sustainable synthesis of high-quality monoglycerides by use of enzyme technologies: techno-economic and environmental study for monolaurin

• Published in: Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
• Main Authors: Mustafa, Ahmad, Fathy, Sara, Kutlu, Ozben, Niikura, Fumiya, Inayat, Abrar, Mustafa, Muhamad, Abdellatief, Tamer, Bokhari, Awais, Samuel, Olusegun David, Pastore, Carlo, Di Bitonto, Luigi, Tawfik, M., Munir, Mamoona, Mohsen, Reham
• Other Authors: October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA), Ege University Izmir, University of Sharjah (UoS), Department of Medicinal Chemistry (Deraya University), Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron Pôle Chimie Balard (IBMM), Institut de Chimie - CNRS Chimie (INC-CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM), Université de Montpellier (UM), Minia University, Lebanese American University (LAU), COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun, University of Johannesburg South Africa (UJ), CNR Water Research Institute (IRSA), National Research Council of Italy, Zagazig University, Department Environmental Science, Fatima Jinnah Women University, The Mall, Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan, University of Greenwich
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: α-Monolaurin; Esterification; Economic evaluation; Sustainable development goals (SDGs); Climate change; Lipozyme 435; Cleaner production; Environment; Energy consumption; [SDE.IE]Environmental Sciences/Environmental Engineering; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-04605025; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-023-02577-1

International audience Currently, monoglycerides (MG) are produced using a complicated energy-intensive technology that contributes negatively toward greenhouse gas mitigation. This work suggests a cleaner and simpler one-step enzymatic production of α -monolaurin in an inert membrane reactor, where the reaction and enzyme separation are conducted simultaneously in one unit. Candida antarctica lipase (Lipozyme 435) was used to catalyze the esterification reaction between lauric acid and glycerin in a solvent-free system under mild temperatures. Response surface methodology was used to optimize the reaction conditions. The optimal conditions were a molecular sieve of 14.85% w/w, a temperature of 56.95 °C, an enzyme amount of 5.38% w/w, and a molar ratio of 4.75% w/w. The gas chromatography (GC) analysis showed that the α-monolaurin percentage was 49.5% when the enzymatic process (ENZ) was used. The conventional chemical (CHEM) and autocatalytic (AUT) esterification methods were also performed to study their proportional MG yields. The GC results showed the MG percentages of 43.9 and 41.7% for CHEM and AUT, respectively. Economic analysis was also conducted for the suggested enzymatic technique, and the findings were compared with those of the CHEM and AUT technologies. Using a plant capacity of 4950 t/year and 11% interest for the proposed ENZ process, the total capital investment of α-monolaurin production was preferably four times less than that of the CHEM process and three times less than that of the AUT method, presenting investment possibilities. However, the ENZ process showed the least profitability (net profit per day) among the three processes. Nevertheless, the return on investment and net present value for the ENZ process were preferably higher than those of CHEM and AUT because of its interestingly lower inside battery limit plant cost and less energy consumption. The AUT/CHEM processes generated a total carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) exhaust of 678.7 t CO 2 eq./year. In contrast, the ENZ process exhausted ...