For industrial biodiesel fuel production, scaled-up cultivation of R. oryzae cells immobilized within BSPs was performed successfully in a 20-l air-lift bioreactor . Repeated batch methanolysis reaction using the dried BSP-immobilized cells maintained a methyl ester content of 65–80% during 20 batch reaction cycles. However, there have so far been no reported studies on methanolysis reaction in a bioreactor using whole-cell biocatalyst in preparation for a practical biodiesel fuel production on a large scale.
The present study therefore investigated methanolysis reaction in a packed-bed reactor (PBR) using dried R. oryzae cells immobilized within BSPs. Reaction conditions were investigated to increase the reaction rate and the lipase stability.