Continuous Production of Structured Phospholipids in a Packed Red Reactor with Lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosa

The possibilities of producing structured phospholipids by lipase-catalyzed acidolysis between soybean phospholipids and caprylic acid were examined in continuous packed bed enzyme reactors. Acidolysis reactions were performed in both a solvent system and a solvent-free system with the commercially immobilized lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosa (Lipozyme TL IM) as catalyst. In the packed bed reactors, different parameters for the lipase-catalyzed acidolysis were elucidated such as solvent ratio (solvent system), temperature, substrate ratio, residence time, water content, and operation stability. The water content was observed to be very crucial for the acidolysis reaction in packed bed reactors. If no water was added to the substrate during reactions under the solvent -free system, very low incorporation of caprylic acid was observed. In both solvent and solvent-free systems, the acyl incorporation was favored by high substrate ratio between acyl donor and phospholipids, longer residence time, and higher reaction temperature. Under certain conditions, an incorporation of around 30% caprylic acid can be obtained in continuous operation with hexane as the solvent.