Immobilized lipases and their applications

Lipases are able to catalyse the hydrolysis of glyceridic esters in aqueous media and the synthesis of esters in non-aqueous media. They are thus able to catalyse numerous reactions of industrial interest. Whether it is by inclusion, by adsorption or by covalent link, the immobilisation of lipases aims at conferring them a good stability that enables a reuse of the enzymes after a reaction and the development of continuous processes. The reactions of triglycerides hydrolysis constitute main applications for immobilised lipases, however their use in different types of esterification reactions has also arose: there exist processes involving reactions of transesterification, of interesterification or of esters synthesis. The production of structured lipids by interesterification is one example. Although the reaction conditions dissent from those of hydrolysis, the same lipases have been used in both cases. A lipase specifically adapted for esterification though would be a highly capable tool: a series of strategies is in progress in order to reach this goal.