Rice husk ash as a potential carrier for the immobilization of lipases applied in the enzymatic production of biodiesel

The potential application of rice husk ash (RH26) as support for the immobilization of a recombinant Rhizopus oryzae (rROL) lipase as biocatalyst in the enzymatic biodiesel production using alperujo oil and the comparison with commercial hydrophobic support OD403 (RelOD) has been made. Although the specific activity (UA mg support−1) was around one-half lower in RH26 than in RelOD when they were used as biocatalyst in biodiesel reaction, the normalized initial rate was similar, between 1.6 and 2.4 μmol FAME mL−1 mL−1 UA−1. Thus in terms of biocatalysis performance, rice husk as is an alternative to commercial supports. However, the main problem is the more complex recovery of RH26 for the reutilization compared with commercial ones.