The esterification reaction mediated by lipases was investigated applying both microwave irradiation and conventional heating in order to evaluate the existence of nonthermal microwave effects on the biodiesel synthesis. All transformations were conducted at 40ºC in both Monowave 300 and CEM Discover instruments that allowed accurate internal reaction temperature measurements with use of fiber-optic probes. The conventional heating experiment was performed in an EasyMaxTM reactor (Mettler-Toledo), which also allowed accurate measurement of the internal temperature. The results revealed no difference on the reaction time or yield, differently than indicated by some results in the literature.
microwave irradiation; lipases; thermal effect; ethyl oleate; nonthermal effects
