PRODUCTION OF BIOLUBRICANTS BY ENZYMATIC CATALYSIS FROM MACAÚBA OIL.

Lubricants are used to reduce the friction force between two surfaces. However, leakage during transport and high energy demand cause environmental damage. The production of biolubricants has gained attention due to their more environmentally friendly characteristics. Vegetable oils are excellent candidates for the synthesis of biolubricants because of their similar properties to mineral oil. The cultivation of macaúba (Acrocomia aculeata) has an oil production rate of 4-6 tons per hectare, similar to palm oil, making it a promising raw material for the synthesis of these molecules, in addition to not being used as a food source. Biolubricants are mainly composed of organic esters, formed by the esterification of medium- to long-chain free fatty acids (FFAs) (C8-C18) with a suitable polyol, generating a polyol ester. The use of enzymes as an alternative to chemical catalysts offers milder reaction conditions and high specificity, with Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) being widely used in biotransformations. The present work has the general objective of the enzymatic synthesis of biolubricants through esterification reactions between FFAs obtained from macaúba pulp oil and trimethylolpropane (TMP) or neopentyl glycol (NPG) using the commercial CRL Lipomod^TM 34MDP (34MDP). The FFAs were produced in an open-jacketed reactor with a 2L capacity, equipped with mechanical stirring at 40°C for 4 hours, with 50% oil and 50% sodium phosphate buffer pH 7 (v/v), and 1% (w/v oil) 34MDP. Esterifications were carried out in open reactors with magnetic stirring at 40°C for 48 hours, using molar ratios of 2.5:1 (FFAs) or 3.75:1 (FFAs) and 1% (w/w) water, employing 4% (w/w) 34MDP. The FFA content in the reaction medium was measured by neutralization titrimetry, showing 85% acidity in hydrolysis and over 75% conversion in 24 hours in both esterification reactions.