Kinetic study of lipase-catalyzed glycerolysis of palm olein using Lipozyme TLIM in solvent-free system.

Diacylglycerol (DAG) and monoacylglycerol (MAG) are two natural occurring minor components found in most edible fats and oils. These compounds have gained increasing market demand owing to their unique physicochemical properties. Enzymatic glycerolysis in solvent-free system might be a promising approach in producing DAG and MAG-enriched oil. Understanding on glycerolysis mechanism is therefore of great importance for process simulation and optimization. In this study, a commercial immobilized lipase (Lipozyme TL IM) was used to catalyze the glycerolysis reaction. The kinetics of enzymatic glycerolysis reaction between triacylglycerol (TAG) and glycerol (G) were modeled using rate equation with unsteady-state assumption. Ternary complex, ping-pong bi-bi and complex ping-pong bi-bi models were proposed and compared in this study. The reaction rate constants were determined using non-linear regression and sum of square errors (SSE) were minimized. Present work revealed satisfactory agreement between experimental data and the result generated by complex ping-pong bi-bi model as compared to other models. The proposed kinetic model would facilitate understanding on enzymatic glycerolysis for DAG and MAG production and design optimization of a pilot-scale reactor.

Other factors to consider in the formation of chloropropandiol fatty esters in oil processes.

This paper examines the processing steps of extracting palm oil from fresh fruit bunches in a way that may impact on the formation of chloropropandiol fatty esters (3-MCPD esters), particularly during refining. Diacylglycerols (DAGs) do not appear to be a critical factor when crude palm oils are extracted from various qualities of fruit bunches. Highly hydrolysed oils, in spite of the high free fatty acid (FFA) contents, did not show exceptionally high DAGs, and the oils did not display a higher formation of 3-MCPD esters upon heat treatment. However, acidity measured in terms of pH appears to have a strong impact on 3-MCPD ester formation in the crude oil when heated at high temperatures. The differences in the extraction process of crude palm oil from current commercial processes and that from a modified experimental process showed clearly the effect of acidity of the oil on the formation of 3-MCPD esters. This paper concludes that the washing or dilution step in palm oil mills removes the acidity of the vegetative materials and that a well-optimised dilution/washing step in the extraction process will play an important role in reducing formation of 3-MCPD esters in crude palm oil upon further heat processing.

Effectiveness of immobilized lipase Thermomyces lanuginosa in catalyzing interesterification of palm olein in batch reaction.

Lipase Thermomyces lanuginosa has shown potential in modifying oils and fats through interesterification. Analyzing the physicochemical properties of the modified oils is important to determine the effectiveness of lipase in catalyzing interesterification. In this study, the effectiveness of the immobilized lipase (Lipozyme(®) TL IM) in catalyzing interesterification of palm olein in pilot-scale batch reactor was determined. The evaluation was done by analyzing the changes of triacylglycerol (TAGs) composition, sn-2 position fatty acids composition and the physical properties of the palm olein after the interesterifications. The pilot-scale batch reaction was conducted for 8 hours with 5 %w/w enzyme dosage based on the results of TAGs composition of the laboratory-scale interesterified products. The pilot-scale results showed that Lipozyme(®) TL IM act as an effective enzyme in converting TAGs, in which 4.5% of trisaturated TAGs (PPP and PPS) were produced in the batch reaction. The formation of these new TAGs had also altered the thermal and physical properties of the palm olein. These interesterified products showed a broad peak and shoulder at high temperature, ranging from 10°C to 40°C, indicating the formation of some new TAGs with high melting points. However, the enzyme did not perform perfectly as a 1,3-specific enzyme in the reaction as a significant reduction of oleic acid and an increment of palmitic acid at the sn-2 position was observed.