Biocatalytic production of fatty epoxides from rapeseed and tall oil derivatives: Process and environmental evaluation

Abstract Rapeseed and tall oil are important renewable feedstocks for chemicals and energy – the former, an agricultural crop, and the latter, is a by-product of the pulp and paper industry. This report presents a study on the production of fatty epoxides from rapeseed methyl ester, tall oil methyl ester, and tall oil fatty acids by a solvent-free lipase-mediated process. Fatty epoxides are useful reactive building blocks for production of lubricants, plasticizers, and surfactants. Epoxidation of the different raw materials exhibited similar reaction speeds, energy requirements, and final conversions, and the epoxide products were biodegradable and nontoxic up to high concentrations. From environmental and economic perspectives, however, the use of tall oil as raw material is preferable to rapeseed. For the chemo-enzymatic process of epoxidation to be economically feasible, improvements in biocatalyst cost and/or stability are still needed.