Enhanced ethyl butyrate production by surfactant coated lipase immobilized on silica

Lipase from Candida rugosa was coated with surfactants and immobilized on silica to catalyze esterification reaction to produce ethyl butyrate, a flavour ester. Various surfactants were tested amongst which non-ionic surfactant performed better than cationic surfactant, whereas inhibitory effect was observed with an anionic surfactant. The optimal temperature of the esterification reaction was 37 °C. Triton X 100 and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) were further characterized in order to achieve the optimum catalytic activity of lipase. A low amount of surfactant proved to be most effective.