Agroindustrial Wastes as a Support for the Immobilization of Lipase From <em>Thermomyces lanuginosus</em>: Synthesis of Hexyl Laurate

Abstract

As a consequence of intense industrialization in the last few decades, the amount of agro-industrial wastes has increasing, where new forms of valorization are crucial. In this work, 5 residual biomasses from Maranh&amp;atilde;o (Brazil) were investigted as supports for immobilization of lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus (TLL). The new biocatalysts BM-TLL (baba&amp;ccedil;u mesocarp) and RH-TLL (rice husk) showed immobilization efficiencies &amp;amp;gt;98% and hydrolytic activities of 5,331 U.g-1 and 4.608 U. g-1 respectively against 142 U. g-1 by Lipozyme&amp;reg; TL IM. High esterification activities were also found, with 141.4 U.g-1 and 396.4 U.g-1 from BM-TLL and RH-TLL against 113.5 U.g-1 by TL IM. Results of porosimetry, SEM and BET demonstrated BM and RH supports are mesoporous materials with large hydrophobic area, allowing a mixture of hydrophobic adsorption and confinement, resulting in hyperactivation of TLL. These biocatalysts were applied in the production of hexyl laurate, where RH-TLL was able to generate 94% conversion in 4 h. Desorption with Triton X-100 and NaCl confirmed that new biocatalysts were more efficient with 5 times less protein than commercial TL IM. All results demonstrated that residual biomass was able to produce robust and stable biocatalysts containing immobilized TLL with better results than commercial preparations.