Industrial use of lipases to produce fatty acid esters

A wide range of fatty acid esters can be synthesised by esterification and transesterification reactions catalysed by lipases in non-aqueous systems. As well as modifications to the natural substrate triacylglycerol, many other commercially important substances can be produced using this enzyme technology, as lipases have been shown to have broad substrate specificities and can thus catalyse conversions with many other non-glycerol based compounds. In mild reaction conditions, emollient esters for use in the personal care industry can be made with excellent quality. Development of economical processes was necessary to commercialise this technology for the manufacture of cosmetic ingredients. Enzymatic production methods had to be established which could compete against standard established chemical synthetic methods. Now relatively simple esters are being produced enzymatically. Extensive purification procedures to clean up products after high temperature reaction steps are not required. Product quality and specifications, such as the acid and hydroxy values of commercial ester products, could be improved. Examples of products manufactured with better purity and yields in economical and ecologically friendly processes are decyl oleate, cetyl ricinoleate, myristyl myristate and decyl cocoate.