Ultrasonic Assisted Enzymatic Transesterification for Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel is fatty acid methyl ester derived from vegetable oils and/or animal fats that reacts with an acyl acceptor. Biodiesel is beneficial in sustaining a healthy environment because of its biodegradable properties, renewabilty, and nontoxicity. Biodiesel is produced by a transesterification process either with or without a catalyst. Transesterification through enzymatic routes gives an advantage in high product purity, easy recovery and, green technology process. However, enzymatic catalysis is a time-consuming process, where it is the slowest pathway in biodiesel production. Thus, the application of ultrasonics in enzymatic transesterification is helping in reducing the reaction time. This review presents the advantage of ultrasonic assisted enzymatic transesterification over conventional enzymatic transesterification by considering the ultrasonic mechanism in accelerating the transesterification process.