High‐yield enzymatic glycerolysis of fats and oils

Abstract

Several triglyceride fats and oils were reacted with glycerol using lipase as catalyst. A batch system with magnetic stirring was used without the addition of any solvents or emulsifiers. In all cases a mixture of mono‐, di‐ and triglycerides was obtained. However, the yield of monglyceride (MG) depended strongly on the reaction temperature: at higher temperatures approximately 30% MG was produced at equilibrium while at lower temperatures a yield of 65%–90% MG was obtained for most of the fats examined. The upper temperature limit below which a high MG yield could be attained was designated the critical temperature (Tc). The value of Tc depended on the fat type and was found to vary between 30°C and 46°C for naturally occurring hard fats. A high MG yield could not be obtained for fully hydrogenated tallow and lard under the conditions described here. Of the three liquid oils examined, rapeseed oil and olive oil had a Tc of 5°C and 10°C respectively whereas a high yield of MG could not be obtained with corn oil at 5°C or greater. The maximum yield of MG below Tc also depended on the fat type: the highest yields being obtained for olive oil (90%), palm stearin and milk fat (80%) and the lowest yield for palm oil (67%). In all cases a high yield of MG was accompanied by solidification of the reaction mixture. The effect of enzyme type on MG production was examined for palm oil and palm stearin and the effect of water concentration was examined for palm oil.

Transesterification of vegetable oils: a review

“…Although the enzyme-catalyzed transesterification processes are not yet commercially developed, new results have been reported in recent articles and patents [42][43][44][45][46][47][48] . The common aspects of these studies consist in optimizing the reaction conditions (solvent, temperature, pH, type of microorganism which generates the enzyme, etc) in order to establish suitable characteristics for an industrial application.…”

Response surface methodology for optimal immobilization of Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 lipase by adsorption method

“…The physico-chemical means of lipolysis have been under-studied by biocatalysis using microbial lipases in a wide array of industrial applications such as the production of detergents, oils and fats, dairy-products, emulsifying and favouring agents (McNeil et al 1991). They are also often used in the processing and preparation of therapeutic agents (Benjamin & Pandey 1998).…”

Soy-Based Polyols and Polyurethanes

“…A non-enzymatic reaction of BSBO and glycerol at temperatures greater than 200 °C produces a high hydroxyl equivalent weight polyol due to the addition of hydroxyl groups in the polymerized soybean oil molecule (Lubguban et al, 2009). The use of lipases to catalyze the glycerolysis of soybean oil was reported with higher yields of both MG and DG (Fregolente et al, 2008;Jackson and King, 1997;Lo et al, 2004;McNeill et al, 1991;Noureddini and Harmeier, 1998). These enzymes include lipases from Pseudomonas sp., Pseudomonas fluorescens, Aspergillus niger, Mucor javanicus, Rhizopus oryzae, Rhizopus niveus, Alcaligenes sp., Candida antarctica, Thermomyces lanuginosus, Candida rugosa, and Rhizomucor miehei.…”