Improved performance of immobilized lipase from optimized biosupport material (polyvinyl alcohol/AlgNa) and its characterization

Abstract

Enzymes play an imminent role as biocatalyst for various biotechnological applications as well as production of biodiesel. Here, we focused on the preparation of biosupport materials (polyvinyl alcohol/AlgNa) and their use in immobilization of lipase from Pseudomonas cepacia. Lipase was successfully immobilized onto polyvinyl alcohol/AlgNa in the form of biosupport materials by entrapment method. The mechanical strength, swelling ratio, thermal properties, optimum temperature and pH, lipase loading, leaching, immobilization yields and activity, characterization of the support materials were performed. The optimized pH and temperature for free lipase were 8.0 and 40°C, respectively, while the best pH and temperature for polyvinyl alcohol/AlgNa immobilized lipase were 8.0 and 50°C. 73.12% of the initial activity was retained for the immobilized biosupport catalyst in 6 cycles. The biosupport catalyst beads showed a fascinating degree of immobilized lipase activity along with high immobilization yield. The highest immobilized lipase activity and loading efficiency found to be 87.28 (U/g) and 55.2%, respectively. SEM analysis confirms the development of macro-porous structure from the combination of alginate. No sharp chemical interaction was observed in the behaviour of the functional groups of polyvinyl alcohol and AlgNa in the polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate blends, which were confirmed from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. The immobilized biosupport catalysts are easily separable, recyclable and could be frequently used for transesterification.