Lipase Cocktail for Optimized Biodiesel Production of Free Fatty Acids from Residual Chicken Oil

In this work, the combination of different lipases was employed for the production of biodiesel, using the Free Fatty Acids (FFAs) from Residual Chicken Oil (RCO) as a substrate. As biocatalysts, lipases A and B from Candida antarctica (CALA and CALB, respectively) and lipase from Rhizomucor miehei (RML) were used in different combinations; as a result, the best lipase cocktail was composed of 67% CALB and 33% RML, which was used to optimize the esterification reaction parameters (molar ratio (FFAs/ ethyl alcohol), biocatalyst content, temperature and time) by the Taguchi method. Under optimized conditions (1:5, 15% of lipase cocktail, 30 °C and 3 h), it was possible to achieve 89.95 ± 0.3% of conversion. Graphic Abstract