Biosynthesis of Partial Glycerides via Enzymatic Esterification of Mucor racimosus Lipase for Edible and Industrial Purposes

The present study is mainly focused on the screening of seven microorganisms for the production of most efficient lipase enzyme for the formation of glycerides (mainly monoglycerides and diglycerides). It was found that Mucor racimosus lipase enzyme was superior to all the other tested microbial lipases for the production of partial glycerides and triglycerides. The experiments were designed on the esterification reaction between mixed free fatty acids and glycerol as well as that of between the fatty acids oil and glycerol. The latter deals with the preparation of partial glycerides namely monoglycerides and diglycerides as well as triglycerides. These compounds can be used as emulsifiers for different industries. Enzymatic esterification parameters were carried out at a various incubation temperature, incubation period, enzyme concentration and substrate concentration to reveal the optimum conditions of esterification reaction. The highest esterification percent (89%) was achieved at the temperature of 30°C and incubation period of 24 hours using the enzyme concentration of 2.5 mg/ml with the substrate concentration of 0.002M oleic acid and 0.12M glycerol.