Production of margarine fats by enzymatic interesterification with silica‐granulated Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase in a large‐scale study

Abstract

Interesterification of a blend of palm stearin and coconut oil (75:25, w/w), catalyzed by an immobilized Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase by silica granulation, Lipozyme TL IM, was studied for production of margarine fats in a 1-or 300-kg pilot-scale batch-stirred tank reactor. Parameters and reusability were investigated. The comparison was carried out between enzymatic and chemical interesterified products. Experimentally, Lipozyme TL IM had similar activity to Lipozyme IM for the interesterification of the blend. Within the range of 55-80°C, temperature had little influence on the degree of interesterification for 6-h reaction, but it had slight impact on the content of free fatty acids (FFA). Drying of Lipozyme TL IM from water content 6 to 3% did not affect its activity, whereas it greatly reduced FFA and diacylglycerol contents in the products. Lipozyme TL IM was stable in the 1-kg scale reactor at least for 11 batches and the 300-kg pilot-scale reactor at least for nine batches. Due to regiospecificity of the lipase (sn-1,3 specific), enzymatically interesterified products had different fatty acid distribution at sn-2 position from the chemically randomized products, implying the potential nutritional benefits of the new technology.Paper no. J9703 in JAOCS 78, 57-64 (January 2001).Interest in applications of enzyme technology for the production of plastic fats for food uses is increasing in both academia and industry. Currently the application of enzyme technology is limited since the price of current commercial lipases is too high for industry to produce low-price plastic fats. A new immobilized Thermomyces (Humicola) lanuginosa lipase, named Lipozyme TL IM, was recently developed with the immobilization method of silica granulation (1). Lipozyme TL IM has sn-1,3 specificity and hydrophilic character. It is less expensive than the commonly applied commercial lipase Lipozyme IM (Rhizomucor miehei lipase) and offers an opportunity for industry to reduce the process cost and make the production of low-price plastic fats economically competitive to the conventional chemical randomization.Previously T. lanuginosa lipase was investigated mostly in solvent systems in free-state or immobilized forms (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). From kinetic studies, it was found that immobilized T. lanuginosa lipase had different characteristics depending on the solvent systems and the hydrophobicity of carriers (2,7). Transesterification and alcoholysis reactions catalyzed by the immobilized lipases of R. miehei and T. lanuginosa on Silica Gel 60 showed less regiospecificity in hexane media, whereas they showed strong 1,3-specificity in a more polar system using diethyl ether as the medium (2). The lipolytic activity of immobilized T. lanuginosa lipase depended largely on the substrate used and hydrophobicity of its carrier. A highly hydrophobic carrier enhanced lipase activity for alcoholysis reactions, whereas the reverse effect was observed for acylglycerol synthesis (7). Comparison of hydrolysis and esterificat...

Production of Cocoa Butter Replacer by Dry Fractionation, Partial Hydrogenation, Chemical and Enzymatic Interesterification of Tea Seed Oil

“…Operating conditions were set as: temperature 60˚C, stirring rate 700 rpm, reaction time 8 h and enzyme dosage 10% by weigh of oil [11].…”

Evaluation of Practical Process Aspects for Lipozyme TL IM Catalyzed Bulk Fat Modification in a Batch Reactor

“…The lipase was initially developed for detergent uses [1], but it was successfully demonstrated for the modification of bulk fat after further development [2]. The reaction behavior was widely studied in batch as well as continuous reactors [2,8,11].…”

Fat Bloom and Polymorphism in Chocolate Prepared with Modified Tea Seed Oil

“…4 to remove fine enzyme particles. The sample was then stored at −24℃ for further analysis (Zhang et al, 2001;Abigor et al, 2003).…”