Penelitian ini telah memproduksi wax ester berbahan dasar asam oleat dan oktanol menggunakan biokatalis Candida rugosa lipase. Beberapa variasi dilakukan untuk mengetahui kondisi operasi optimum, seperti persentase enzim, rasio reaktan (asam oleat:oktanol), dan waktu reaksi. Dari variasi tersebut didapatkan konversi optimum 69,76 % untuk 4 % enzim dengan rasio reaktan 1:1 selama 6 jam reaksi. Konversi maksimum sebesar 87,5 % diperoleh untuk kondisi operasi yang sama dengan penambahan 8 % enzim. Kinetika reaksi juga dibuat berdasarkan persamaan Michaelis-Menten. Dengan persamaan ini, didapatkan parameter Km dan vmax masing-masing sebesar 0,417 dan 2,435.
The lipase catalyzed reaction of wax esters synthesis using oleic acid and long chain alcohol (octanol) as substrates and Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) as biocatalist was carried out. The effects of various reaction parameters such as molar ratio of substrates, amount of enzyme, and reaction time were investigated. The optimum reaction condition for wax ester synthesis is a mixture of oleic acid and octanol with molar ratio of 1:1, with 4% (w/w) CRL for 6 h. Percentage conversion of wax esters obtained at these optimum reaction conditions was 69,76 %. Maximum conversion (87,5 %) obtained by addition of 8 % CRL with the same reaction condition. Kinetic were also studied using Michaelis-Menten kinetic model. By using this equation, the Km and vmax parameter can be solved with the value of 0,417 and 2,435 respectively.
