Activated carbon from sugarcane bagasse as support for lipase immobilization by physical adsorption technique

Abstract

Lipases are recognized as the most important group of catalysts in biotechnology. However, utilization of free enzymes is often hampered by the need for more operational stability, high cost, and non-reusability. Most of these obstacles can be solved by lipase immobilization. This work's objective was to evaluate the performance of the activated carbon obtained from sugarcane straw (SAC) as a support for lipase immobilization. Two lipases were immobilized by physical adsorption on SAC: Aspergillus niger 11T53A14 lipase and CalB (lipase B from Candida antarctica, Novozymes). Results revealed that the lipase had been anchored on the activated carbon with the lipase binding efficiency of 89 % (A. niger lipase) and 100 % (CalB) at the optimum experimental conditions (initial protein concentration 0.1 mg mL-1, 0.15 g of SAC, 25 °C, and 120 min). Langmuir isotherm fitted the adsorption equilibrium data of the lipases on SAC. SAC presents a high surface area and protein adsorption capacity. These results show that activated carbon synthesized from the sugarcane straw is a promising support for enzyme immobilization.