Preparation of a Crosslinked Bioimprinted Lipase for Enrichment of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids from Fish Processing Waste

Geotrichum sp. lipase modified with a combined method composed of crosslinking and bioimprinting was employed to selectively hydrolyze waste fish oil for enrichment of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in glycerides. Crosslinked polymerization by monomer (polyethylene glycol 400 dimethyl acrylate), crosslinker (trimethylolpropane trimethylacrylate), and photoinitiator (benzoin methyl ether) coupled to bioimprinting using palmitic acid as imprint molecule, resulted in much more effective enzyme preparation used in aqueous hydrolysis reaction. Since the crosslinked polymerization modification maintained bioimprinted property and gave good dispersion of enzyme in reaction mixture, the crosslinked bioimprinted enzyme exhibited higher hydrolysis temperature, enhanced specific activity, shorter hydrolysis time, and better operational stability compared to free lipase. Crude fish oil was treated at 45 A degrees C with this crosslinked bioimprinted lipase for 8 h, and 46% hydrolysis degree resulted in the production of glycerides containing 41% of EPA and DHA (EPA+DHA), achieving 85.7% recovery of initial EPA and DHA. The results suggested that bioimprinted enzymes did not lose their induced property in aqueous environment when prepared according to the described crosslinking-bioimprinting method. It could also be seen that the crosslinked bioimprinted lipase was effective in producing glycerides that contained a higher concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acid with better yield.