The hydrodynamic characteristics and operational conditions to produce biodiesel by the ethanolysis of
babassu oil catalyzed by immobilized lipase (Novozym1 435) were established in a fluidized bed reactor
coupling with a column to simultaneous remove glycerol formed as byproduct. Hydrodynamics was
determined by means of pulse tracer trials and results showed that the flow pattern can be described as
an ideal continuous flow stirred tank. The best performance was obtained by running the reactor with
biocatalyst loading of 12% and a space–time of 8 h, attaining an average yield of 98.1% and productivity of
9.9 molester/gcat/min.