Enzymatic hydrolysis of castor oil: Process intensification studies

The usual methods of castor oil hydrolysis give impure product, i.e. ricinoleic acid. An alternative technique for production is the enzymatic hydrolysis of castor oil where the product is available as a light colored and odorless product. Usually lipase catalyzed enzymatic hydrolysis has been carried out in oil in water emulsions, which require rather high quantities of enzymes limiting the industrial scale operation due to very high enzyme costs. With an aim of finding the solution to this problem, the lipase catalyzed enzymatic hydrolysis reactions have been carried out with water in oil type emulsion where optimum utilization of enzyme can be obtained. The various parameters such as time study, reusability, non-aqueous to aqueous phase ratio, effects on interfacial area of the two phases and effect of enzyme dosing were studied in order to find out the optimum conditions for maximum castor oil hydrolysis.