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Erucic acid (EA) is a fatty acid with wide industrial applications. Currently, EA is isolated from high erucic acid (HEA) Crucifereae plant oils by steam splitting, namely Colgate-Emery process, followed by fractional distillation. Some disadvantages are caused by the drastic conditions used in this two-step process. Meanwhile, another product from vegetable oils, biodiesel, is not so widely used as it should be in the United States because of its high production cost.

EA and biodiesel could be simultaneously produced through enzymatic processes in mild conditions. Different reaction routes were investigated in this study to isolate EA from HEA plant oils using different lipases with different specificities. Specifically, the hydrolysis of crambe oil catalyzed by lipases from Candida rugosa and porcine pancreas were investigated and compared. Porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL) preferentially liberated EA located at the two primary positions of oil triacylglycerols (TAGs). The EA content in free fatty acid fraction reached 82.2%, with an EA recovery of 71.7%. By contrast, Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) preferentially released short-chain FAs from oil TAGs, and left long-chain EA behind on the glycerol backbone as a product of sn-1, 3-dierucin. To reduce the considerable loss of EA into free fatty acid fraction, sn-1, 3-dierucin needed to be separated during the CRL hydrolysis process.

Preferences were initially given to the alcoholysis and interesterification catalyzed by lipase from Candida rugosa in attempt to combine EA isolation and biodiesel production in a single-step reaction. However, no feasible results were achieved successfully due to the adverse effects of the acyl acceptors, namely alcohols and esters, for those two reactions.