Lipase-catalyzed transesterification is a promising and sustainable approach to producing biodiesel. To achieve highly efficient conversion of heterogeneous oils, combining the specificities and advantages of different lipases is an attractive strategy. To this end, highly active Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase (1,3-specific) and stable Burkholderia cepacia lipase (non-specific) were covalently co-immobilized on 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (3-GPTMS) modified Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (co-BCL-TLL@Fe3O4). The co-immobilization process was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The obtained co-BCL-TLL@Fe3O4 exhibited a significant improvement in activity and reaction rate compared with mono and combined-use lipases, achieving 92.9% yield after 6 h under optimal conditions, while individually immobilized TLL, immobilized BCL and their combinations exhibited yields of 63.3%, 74.2% and 70.6%, respectively. Notably, co-BCL-TLL@Fe3O4 achieved 90-98% biodiesel yields after 12 h using six different feedstocks, demonstrating the perfect synergistic effect of BCL and TLL remarkably motivated in co-immobilization. Furthermore, co-BCL-TLL@Fe3O4 could maintain 77% of initial activity after nine cycles by removing methanol and glycerol from catalyst surface, accomplished by washing with t-butanol. The high catalytic efficiency, wide substrate adaptability and favorable reusability of co-BCL-TLL@Fe3O4 suggest that it will be an economical and effective biocatalyst for further applications.
Keywords: biodiesel; co-immobilization; lipase; process optimization; waste oils.