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In this work, phytosterol ester was synthesized using Yarrowia lipolytica lipase Ylip2 that had been immobilized on inorganic support in a solvent-free system and reacted in a computer-aided water activity controlled bioreactor. The immobilization of Ylip2 on celite led to a remarkable increase in the phytosterol conversion compared to that of free lipase. An investigation of the reaction conditions were oleic acid as the fatty acid variety, 10,000 U/g substrate, and a temperature of 50 °C for phytosterol ester synthesis. Controlling of the water activity at a set point was accomplished by the introduction of dry air through the reaction medium at a digital feedback controlled flow rate. For the esterification of phytosterol ester, a low (15%) water activity resulted in a considerable improvement in phytosterol conversion (91.1%) as well as a decreased reaction time (78 h). Furthermore, Ylip2 lipase immobilized on celite retained 90% esterification activity for the synthesis of phytosterol oleate after reused 8 cycles, while free lipase was only viable for 5 batches with 90% esterification activity remained. Finally, the phytosterol oleate space time yield increased from 1.65 g/L/h with free lipase to 2.53 g/L/h with immobilized lipase. These results illustrate that the immobilized Yarrowia lipolytica lipase Ylip2 in a water activity controlled reactor has great potential for the application in phytosterol esters synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed an improved and effective method to immobilize Yarrowia lipolytica lipase Lip2 (YLIP2) on an epoxy poly-(glycidylmethacrylate-triallyisocyanurate-ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate) (P GMA-TAIC-EGDMA ) support structure with or without amine or/and protein modifications. Our results show that there is an increase in the activity of the immobilized lipase on n-butylamine (BA) modified support (420 U/g support) and the biocompatible gelatin modified support (600 U/g support) when compared to the support without modification (240 U/g support). To further study the influences of BA and gelatin modification on the activity of the immobilized lipase, gelatin and BA were concurrently used to decorate the support structure. Lipase immobilized on 2% BA/gelatin (1:1) modified support obtained the highest activity (1180 U/g support), which was five-fold higher than that on a native support structure. These results suggest that the activity of a support-immobilized lipase depends on the support surface properties and a moderate support surface micro-environment was crucial for elevated activity. Collectively, these data show that a combined gelatin and BA modification regulates the support surface more suitable for immobilizing YLIP2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]