Selection of commercial lipase preparations for interesterification of milkfat with soybean oil

Abstract

The present work deals with the selection of lipases for enzymatic transesterification of milkfat with soybean oil aiming to obtain omega 3 and 6 fatty acids enriched product. The activities are included in the project “Jovem Pesquisador ‘Nucleação de um Novo Grupo de Pesquisa Tecnologia de Processos em Reatores Enzimáticos utilizando Tecnologias Emergentes para Reestruturação da Gordura do Leite” (FAPESP N. 04/12329-8).The activities of this master project will be performed in three main steps. In the first one, commercial lipase preparations from different sources (porcine pancreatic lipase and microbial enzymes from Aspergillus niger, Mucor javanicus, Rhizopus orizae, Burkholderia cepacea and Pseudomonas fluorescens) will be immobilized on a hybrid matrix of polysiloxane/ polyvinyl alcohol (POS-PVA) obtained through sol-gel technique. The performance of the immobilized lipases will be evaluated in the model reaction system for the transesterification of tripalmitin with triolein. Then, the most active immobilized system will be characterized in relation to their catalytic and stability properties. Afterwards, the influence of temperature on the model system transesterification will be determined aiming to optimize the process rate. Finally, transesterification tests of milkfat with soybean oil will be carried out using the selected immobilized system under the established experimental conditions. This work aims to select the enzyme with the highest potential for this biotransformation and to establish basis for further improved knowledge of this enzymatic system.