The Evaluation of Fusel Oil Fraction for Lipase Catalyzed Alcoholysis of Hazelnut Oil

The alcoholysis of the hazelnut oil with a fusel oil fraction obtained from molasses fusel oil (b.p. 120-132 degrees C) was investigated in the presence of lipase B from Candida antarctica (Novozym 435) in an organic solvent. Silica gel 60 was chosen as a glycerol collector. The optimum reaction conditions of the alcoholysis conducted in n-hexane were found to be as follows: 0.8 silica gel/oil weight ratio; 10% enzyme amount based on oil weight; oil: alcohol molar ratio of 1:3; temperature 70 degrees C. In order to compare the effect of the alcohol type, alcoholysis of hazelnut oil was conducted with straight and branched chain primer alcohols, such as methanol, propanol, butanol, i-butanol, octanol, amyl alcohol, and i-amyl alcohol, at optimum conditions. High conversions were obtained with branch and long chained alcohols. I-octane was found to be one of the best solvents besides n-hexane for enzymatic alcoholysis of hazelnut oil with fusel oil fraction resulting with the highest conversion.