Thermostable lipases, industrial

For industrial applications, thermostable lipases are desirable in order to work in melted fat. Thermostable, positional specific lipases are well known. One example is Mucor miehei lipase which we have developed into an immobilized commercial product (Lipozyme)... 

Omar IC, Hayashi M, Nagai S (1987) Purification and some properties of a thermostable lipase from Humicola lanuginosa No. 3. Agric Biol Chem 51(1) 37-A5 Pacheco-OUver M, Veeraragavan K, Braendfi E (1990) Separation of colour compounds from lipase in fermentation supernatant by diafiltration. Biotechnol Tech 4(l) 369-372 Pandey A, Selvakumar P, Soccol CR et al. (1999) Solid state fermentation for the production of industrial enzymes. Curr Sci 77(1) 149-162... 

Some positional non-specific lipases are known (3-6), but they have insufficient thermostabilities for long-term applications in melted fats. We consider the lack of thermostable non-specific lipases to be one of the main reasons for the limited use of lipases in the fat and oil industry. The existence of such a lipase would open up for the use of lipases as catalysts for randomization in fats, and as general catalysts for ester synthesis. 

An example of a successful esterification reaction on industrial scale is shown in Scheme 3.1. 6-0-Acyl derivatives of alkyl glucopyranosides, which are used as fully biodegradable nonionic surfactants in cosmetics [142], were synthesized from fatty acids and the corresponding l-O-aUcyl glucopyranosides under catalysis of thermostable Candida antarctica lipase B in the absence of solvents [137]. In order to drive the reaction towards completion, the water produced during the reaction was evaporated at elevated temperature and reduced pressure (70°C, 0.01 bar). 

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