Enzymes as Biocatalysts for Lipid-based Bioproducts Processing - Food and Industrial Bioproducts and Bioprocessing - page 331

Inter-esterification Glycerolysis / Alcoholysis

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Esterification Hydrolysis

Figure 14.4 Enzymatic processing routes for production of partial acylglcyerols.

There are a number of enzymatic processing routes for production of partial acylglcyerols,
namely esterification, acidolysis, glycerolysis, alcoholysis, partial hydrolysis and interest-
erification (Figure 14.4). Among these, extensive research has been carried out on
glycerolysis, esterification and partial hydrolysis, both in academia and industry, during the
last five years (Table 14.2). These processes include lipolysis (hydrolysis of ester bonds),
liposynthesis (synthesis of ester bonds) or a combination of both. As partial acylglycerols
are intermediates in the lipolysis or liposynthesis process, careful control of the process
parameters is of the upmost importance to direct the reaction equilibrium towards production
of partial acylglycerols.
As a whole, enzymatic synthesis of partial acylglycerols is governed by several common
process parameters, namely enzyme type and dosage, ratio of the reactants, reaction media,