Towards a cost-effective immobilized lipase for the synthesis of specialty chemicals

Biocatalysis has the potential to provide the chemical industry with several advantages for the production of chemicals; but the use of this technology for the production of speciality and bulk chemicals is unfortunately limited due to the high costs related to the production of the biocatalyst. We have immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) on different resins in order to obtain a more cost-effective biocatalyst, i.e. to find the cheapest preparation per catalytic activity, for one esterification and one amidation reaction. It was found that lipase immobilized on macroporous polypropylene (Accurel MP1000) and polymethylmethacrylate (Lewatit) provided biocatalyst preparations where the cost of enzyme and carrier was significantly less than the cost of commercially available Novozym®435, indicating a potential for decreased cost. Also the stability of Accurel MP1000 bound enzyme during repeated use matched that of Novozym®435. Finally the in-house biocatalyst was used in a packed-bed set-up, showing an excellent stability in repeated batches at 70 °C.