The kinetics and thermodynamics of the enzymatic degradation of zearalenone (ZEN) in degummed corn oil were investigated by analyzing the impacts of temperature, pH, ZEN hydrolase dosage and ZEN concentration on the initial reaction rate. The kinetic study found that the maximum reaction rate was 0.97 μmol × kg−1 min−1, the Michaelis constant (Km) was 11,476 μmol × kg−1 and the Michaelis equation was V = 0.97[S]/(11,476 + [S]). The thermodynamic study showed that the activation energy (Ea) was 70.37 kJ·mol−1, the activation enthalpy change of the reaction (ΔH) > 0, the free energy of activation (ΔG) > 0 and the activation entropy change (ΔS) < 0, indicating the reaction could not be spontaneous. The reaction mechanism of ZEN was studied by a hybrid quadrupole orbitrap mass spectrometer. It was found that ZEN first generated the intermediate G/L/D/W-ZEN+H2O, followed by generating the intermediate W-ZEN-H2O under the action of a degrading enzyme. Then, the lactone bond was opened to produce C18H24O6, and finally the decarboxylation product C17H24O4 formed automatically.

The removal of zearalenone (ZEN) from degummed corn oil (DCO) using hydrolase on a batch-refining unit was studied. According to single-factor and response surface experiments, the optimum technological conditions for reaching the maximum degradation rate were a temperature of 39.01 °C, a pH of 8.08, a time of 3.9 h, and an enzyme dosage of 44.7 mg/kg, whereby the rate of ZEN degradation can reach 94.66%. Different effects on the removal of ZEN were observed at different initial ZEN contents under the optimal technological conditions, of which the decrease was rapid for high ZEN content and slow for low ZEN content.