Enzymatic reactive extrusion: moving towards continuous enzyme-catalysed polyester polymerisation and processing

Abstract

This paper demonstrated the feasibility of conducting an enzymatic ring-opening polymerisation by reactive extrusion (REX) at high shear and temperature conditions. Using immobilized Candida antarctica Lipase B (CALB) as catalyst at temperatures ranging from 90 to 130 °C, ω-pentadecalactone (PDL) was converted (>99%) by REX at 60 RPM for 15 min to PPDL with ≥M_w 163 000 g mol⁻¹.