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.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Castor oil; Ricinoleic acid; Lipase; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Immobilization; Product inhibition