A comparative study on production of middle chain diacylglycerol through enzymatic esterification and glycerolysis

A comparative study on lipase catalyzed production of middle chain diacylglycerol was conducted with esterification of glycerol and glycerolysis of triacylglycerol, respectively, in which high diacylglycerol yield and high acyl donor conversion are two desired goals. The esterification provided much higher acyl donor conversion than glycerolysis (with the conversion of 94.42% and 74.21%, respectively). The esterification in packed bed reactor produced more diacylglycerol than that in batch reactor (with relative content in the product of 77.26% and 45.45%, respectively). Mass transfer is one of the limitations during the procedure. Microwave irradiation provides higher reaction rate and selectivity in glycerolysis.