Biodiesel production by enzymatic catalysis has been the subject of much research for
developing processes that can potentially compete with other types of catalysis. The
objective of this paper was to study the variables that affect the transesterification of coconut
oil in biodiesel production using immobilized enzymes as catalysts and ethanol. The
transesterification reactions were carried out in closed glass reactors kept under agitation at
200 rpm and catalyzed by the commercial immobilized lipase Novozym 435. An experimental
design with the variables: temperature (40e60 C), enzyme concentration (3e7%) and oil:-
ethanol ratio (1:6e1:10) was carried out. The best result e 80.5% conversion e was achieved
with the highest temperature, molar ratio and enzyme concentration