Journal of Bioprocessing & Biotechniques

Development and Validation of a Kinetic Model for Enzymatic Hydrolysis Using Candida rugosa Lipase

Abstract

Ammar Jamie, Ali S Alshami, Zuhair O Maliabari and Muataz A Ateih

Biochemical processing involving enzymatic catalysis of hydrolysis reactions of oils and fats must overcome significant technological barriers before the full benefits of the technology can be realized. Owing to their selectivity and mild reaction conditions, lipases are becoming increasingly important as biocatalysts provided that their kinetics and optimum reaction conditions are well-understood. In this study we report on the development and validation of a kinetic model for the degradation of oils using Candida rugosa lipase, from which a better understanding of the influence of different reaction conditions on hydrolysis kinetics is elucidated. Variations of reaction temperature, mixing speed, enzyme loading and substrate concentrations yielded a maximum lipase activity of 25.67 lipase units (LU), and an activation energy of 4.32 Kcal/gmol. Significantly higher enzyme loading at 0.7 mg/ml was achieved, a 169% increase over most recently reported loading by other investigators. Optimum operating ranges for medium pH and substrate concentration were established to be 7.5 to 8.5, and 30 to 55%, respectively. Reported findings mark a significant improvements over previously reported much narrower ranges of 8.0 for pH and 30 to 43% for the substrate concentration under similar experimental conditions. Developed kinetics model closely predicted and matched experimental results, rendering it suitable for biochemical engineering design application.