The Evaluation of Fusel Oil Fraction for Lipase Catalyzed Alcoholysis of Hazelnut Oil

Abstract

Abstract The alcoholysis of the hazelnut oil with a fusel oil fraction obtained from molasses fusel oil (b.p. 120–132°C) was investigated in the presence of lipase B from Candida antarctica (Novozym 435) in an organic solvent. Silica gel 60 was chosen as a glycerol collector. The optimum reaction conditions of the alcoholysis conducted in n-hexane were found to be as follows: 0.8 silica gel/oil weight ratio; 10% enzyme amount based on oil weight; oil: alcohol molar ratio of 1:3; temperature 70°C. In order to compare the effect of the alcohol type, alcoholysis of hazelnut oil was conducted with straight and branched chain primer alcohols, such as methanol, propanol, butanol, i-butanol, octanol, amyl alcohol, and i-amyl alcohol, at optimum conditions. High conversions were obtained with branch and long chained alcohols. I-octane was found to be one of the best solvents besides n-hexane for enzymatic alcoholysis of hazelnut oil with fusel oil fraction resulting with the highest conversion.