Efficient lipase-catalyzed production of tailor-made emulsifiers using solvent engineering coupled to extractive processing

• Published in: Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society 1998-02, Vol.75 (2), p.309-313
• Main Authors: Edmundo, C, Valerie, D, Didier, C, Alain, M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2‐methyl‐2‐butanol; Adsorbed glycerol; Bioconversions. Hemisynthesis; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Butanol; Chemical synthesis; Conversion; EMULSIFICACION; EMULSIFICATION; emulsifier; EMULSIFYING; esterification; extraction; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glycerol; Hexanes; Lipase; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; monooleoyl glycerol; n-Hexane; Oleic acid; Production methods; Recovery; Silica; Silica gel; silica gel adsorption; Substrates; surfactant; thermodynamic equilibrium
• ISSN: 0003-021X; 1558-9331
• DOI: 10.1007/s11746-998-0046-3

Within the framework of enzymatic biosurfactant synthesis, the development of reaction processes leading to a selective and efficient production is of crucial interest. In this work, we proposed an enzymatic method for producing 1(3)‐monooleoyl‐rac‐glycerol using a commercial immobilized lipase, the Lipozyme®. To avoid the blockage of the enzyme by the presence of insoluble glycerol, the latter was adsorbed onto dried silica gel. The selective monoester production (83%) was obtained using 2‐methyl‐2‐butanol amended n‐hexane (90:10, vol/vol) as reaction medium. The observed decrease in the substrate conversion, in a medium containing 2‐methyl‐2‐butanol, was countered by coupling to the reaction an inline selective recovery method for the produced monoester by adsorption onto a silica gel column located at the outflow of the reaction vessel. This process leads to an efficient monooleoyl glycerol production with a high oleic acid conversion (71%) and to the recovery of a 100% pure monooleoyl glycerol.