Production of aroma esters by immobilized Candida rugosa and porcine pancreatic lipase into calcium alginate gel

Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) and porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL) were immobilized into calcium alginate (Ca-Alg) gel beads by means of entrapment and were used to produce three industrially important flavour esters, namely isoamyl acetate (banana flavour), ethyl valerate (green apple flavour) and butyl acetate (pineapple flavour). Immobilization conditions were optimized in terms of sodium alginate (Na-Alg) and CaCl2 concentrations by determination of the entrapped enzyme amount as well as by esterification of 4-nitrophenol and acetic acid. The best results were obtained at 2.5% Na-Alg and 2.5 M CaCl2 for CRL while at 2.5% Na-Alg and 2.0 M CaCl2 for PPL. On carrying out flavour syntheses in solvent-free medium and also in hexane medium, higher ester yields were obtained in hexane medium for all esters and both types of lipases. Ester esterification efficiency increased in parallel with both enzyme concentrations at immobilization medium and the immobilized lipase amount in esterification medium. Maximum ester production was observed between 40 and 50 °C for CRL and PPL. Besides, the effect of substrate concentrations on ester conversion was remarkable. The best ester yield was obtained for isoamyl acetate when immobilized PPL was used.