Abstract:

Recently，with the global shortage of fossil fuels，price hike of crude oil and increased environmental concerns have resulted in the rapid growth of biodiesel production. The central reaction in the biodiesel production is the transesterification reaction which can be catalyzed either chemically or biologically. Enzymatic transesterification has certain advantages over chemical catalysis of transesterification，as it is less energy intensive，allows easy recovery of glycerol as a by-product and the transesterification of glycerides with high free fatty acid contents. This article reviews the current status and latest development of biodiesel production with immobilized lipase，including various feedstocks，source of lipases，immobilization techniques，lipase inactivation caused by methanol（ethanol）and glycerol. Lastly，future perspective for biodiesel production catalyzed by immobilized lipase is discussed.