Immobilization of fructosyltransferase by chitosan and alginate for efficient production of fructooligosaccharides

• Sodium alginate and CaCl2 concentrations were optimized for better transfructosylating activity.
• The optimum pH and temperature of free and immobilized fructosyltransferase was investigated.
• Continuous reuse of immobilized beads after every 24 h leads to economic production of fructooligosaccharides.
• HPLC analysis shows sodium alginate as a suitable polymer for immobilization of FTase.

The effective system of reusing mycelial fructosyltransferase (FTase) immobilized with two polymers, chitosan and alginate were evaluated for continuous production of fructooligosaccharides (FOS). The alginate beads were successfully developed by maintaining spherical conformation of using 0.3% (w/v) sodium alginate with 0.1% (w/v) of CaCl2 solution for highest transfructosylating activity. The characteristics of free and immobilized FTase were investigated and results showed that optimum pH and temperature of FTase activity were altered by immobilized materials. A successive production of FOS by FTase entrapped alginate beads was observed at an average of 62.96% (w/w) up to 7 days without much losing its activity. The data revealed by HPLC analysis culminate 67.75% (w/w) of FOS formation by FTase entrapped alginate beads and 42.79% (w/w) by chitosan beads in 36 h of enzyme substrate reaction.