From water‐in‐oil to oil‐in‐water emulsions to optimize the production of fatty acids using ionic liquids in micellar systems

Abstract

Biocatalysis is nowadays considered as one of the most important tools in green chemistry. The elimination of multiple steps involved in some of the most complex chemical synthesis, reducing the amounts of wastes and hazards, thus increasing the reaction yields and decreasing the intrinsic costs, are the major advantages of biocatalysis. This work aims at improving the enzymatic hydrolysis of olive oil to produce valuable fatty acids through emulsion systems formed by long alkyl chain ionic liquids (ILs). The optimization of the emulsion and the best conditions to maximize the production of fatty acids were investigated. The stability of the emulsion was characterized considering the effect of several parameters, namely, the IL and its concentration and different water/olive oil volumetric ratios. ILs from the imidazolium and phosphonium families were evaluated. The results suggest that the ILs effect on the hydrolysis performance varies with the water concentration and the emulsion system formed, that is, water-in-oil or oil-in-water emulsion. Although at low water concentrations, the presence of ILs does not present any advantages for the hydrolysis reaction, at high water contents (in oil-in-water emulsions), the imidazolium-based IL acts as an enhancer of the lipase catalytic capacity, super-activating 1.8 times the enzyme, and consequently promoting the complete hydrolysis of the olive oil for the highest water contents [85% (v/v)].

Enzymatic Methods for the Manipulation and Valorization of Soapstock from Vegetable Oil Refining Processes

“…Santos et al [15] studied the effect of an emulsion system formed by long alkyl chain ionic liquids on the enzymatic hydrolysis of olive oil. They demonstrated that although at low water concentrations (water-in-oil emulsion) the presence of emulsion does not present any advantage for the hydrolysis reaction, at high water content (oil-in-water emulsion), the ionic liquid acts as an enhancer of lipase catalytic activity, super-activating 1.8 times the enzyme.…”

Recent advances on sources and industrial applications of lipases

“…From the literature study, it is realized that lipases derived from C. rugosa are found to be most prominent biocatalysts in catalyzing various types of reactions including hydrolysis of conjugated linoleic acid l‐methyl ester by addition of an organic solvent, transesterification of palm oil with methanol and ethanol, enantioselective hydrolysis of menthol benzoate, etc. Another important yeast source of lipase is C. antactica , which is effectively used for the synthesis of valuable fatty acids, production of biodiesel through transesterification of Simarouba glauca oil, production of pharmaceutical products through acylation and alcoholysis, synthesis of cosmetic and detergent products by acidolysis of butter oil with conjugated linoleic acid and acidolysis of acyl glycerols . Further, yeast lipases are effectively used in biodiesel production that includes lipases from T. lanuginosus used in hydroesterification of soybean oil; Rhodotorula mucilaginosa used in esterification of palm oil; T. lanuginosus used in hydrolysis of soybean oil and T. lanuginosus used in transesterification of rapeseed oil .…”

“…Further the details about yeast and bacterial lipases and their application in hydrolysis reactions are given in Tables and . It has been reported that the enzymatic hydrolysis of olive oil to produce valuable fatty acids can be improved through emulsion systems formed by long alkyl chain ionic liquids (ILs) …”

“…Other physical lipase engineering methods include compartmentalization and multiple enzyme using spherezymes, self‐immobilized enzyme particles that are formed by cross‐linking enzymes while in an emulsion . Utilization of lipase in emulsion form is also gaining a lot of importance in recent years as found in case of production of fatty acids using ILs in micellar systems and lipase‐catalyzed hydrolysis reactions . Further, the degree of purity of most of the lipases is also another important factor that limits their commercial implementation.…”

Liquid lipase‐catalyzed hydrolysis of gac oil for fatty acid production: Optimization using response surface methodology

“…Although this conventional method produces high conversion yield, it requires high temperature (100–260 °C) and pressure (100–7000 kPa), thus causing undesirable reactions such as dehydration, oxidation of fatty acids, and interesterification of triglyceride . Oil hydrolysis using lipase as a biocatalyst has received considerable attention for the production of fatty acids . This method is more advantageous than the conventional method because the method can be employed at low temperatures and demonstrates high selectivity, thus leading to energy conservation and obtaining high‐purity products .…”