PRODUCTION OF BIOLUBRICANTS BY ENZYMATIC CATALYSIS FROM MACAÚBA OIL

Lubricants are used to reduce friction between two surfaces. However, leakage during transportation and high energy demands 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 due to their properties similar to mineral oil. The cultivation of macauba (Acrocomia aculeata) has a production rate of 4-6 tons of oil per hectare, similar to palm oil, making it a promising raw material for the synthesis of these molecules, as it is not used as a food source. Biolubricants are primarily composed of organic esters, formed from the esterification of medium to long chain free fatty acids (FFAs) (C8-C18) with a suitable polyol, generating a polyol ester (POE). 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 overall objective of this project is the enzymatic synthesis of biolubricants through esterification reactions between FFAs obtained from macauba pulp oil and trimethylolpropane (TMP) or neopentyl glycol (NPG) using the commercial CRL Lipomod™ 34MDP. The production of FFAs was carried out in an open jacketed reactor with a capacity of 2 L equipped with mechanical stirring and water circulation in a water bath at 40°C for 4 hours. The esterification reactions were carried out in open reactors equipped with magnetic stirring at 40°C for 48 hours, using a molar ratio of 2.5:1 (FFAs:NPG) or 3.75:1 (FFAs:TMP) and addition of 1% (w/w) of water, using 4% (w/w) of commercial enzyme. The FFA content in the reaction medium was measured by neutralization titration, showing an acidity of 85% in the hydrolysis and conversion greater than 75% in 24 hours in both esterification reactions.