Biofuel generation from food waste through immobilized enzymes on magnetic nanoparticles

In the current study, lipase from Bacillus subtilis was covalently immobilized over magnetite nanoparticles and employed for biofuel generation from food waste such as used olive oil. The free and immobilized lipases have been tested to optimize reaction temperature and pH parameters to determine the specific activity using p-nitrophenyl palmitate. The biodiesel conversion capability of free and immobilized lipases has been explored at different temperatures. Immobilized lipase derived from B. subtilis retained modest specific activity of 58.95 U/mg of lipase even at 60 °C and pH 8. With the optimal reaction conditions, the biodiesel production using immobilized lipase with used olive oil was reaching to be ∼ 45% in one hour.