Co-production of biodiesel and phytonutrients from palm-based second-generation feedstocks using a low-cost liquid lipase for improving biodiesel process economics and sustainability

The high cost of biodiesel production from refined vegetable oils has limited its widespread adoption. To address this issue, this research introduces a novel strategy for improving the economics of biodiesel production by co-producing phytonutrients (tocols and carotenes) alongside biodiesel from palm fatty acid distillate and palm pressed fiber oil using a low-cost liquid lipase, Eversa® Transform 2.0. The lipase could efficiently catalyze the conversion of these second-generation feedstocks to biodiesel with ester contents exceeding 90% while retaining over 90% of its tocols and carotenes. Following vacuum distillation, tocols and carotenes could be enriched up to 28-fold and 4-fold, respectively.