Use of ionic liquids as additives for the immobilization of lipase from Bacillus sp .

BACKGROUND Ionic liquids (ILs) have been used as additives to immobilise lipase from a new source of Bacillus sp. (ITP‐001) by the physical adsorption method supporting green poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) in order to evaluate the influence of the cationic core ([C 4 mpy]Cl, [C 4 min]Cl), of anions ([C 4 min]Cl, [C 4 min]N(CN) 2, [C 4 min]Tf 2 N) and the cation chain length ([C 2 min]Tf 2 N, [C 4 min]Tf 2 N)) in the immobilization process. The immobilized biocatalysts (IB) were characterized with regard to morphological and physico‐chemical properties, and total activity recovery yield ( Ya ) and biochemical properties of more efficient IB were evaluated. RESULT Total activity recovery yield ( Ya ) for the immobilized biocatalysts employing LI as additives always resulted in higher values compared with the control. The most efficient was using the more hydrophobic IL [C 4 min]Tf 2 N, which represents a 2‐fold greater increase in the recovery of enzymatic activity. It retained more than 73% of its original activity after 20 reuses compared with the control, which, after ten cycles, retained only 33% of its original activity. CONCLUSION The anions and the cation chain length of ionic liquids have a strong influence on the immobilization process. The results for biocatalyst immobilized with [C 4 min]Tf 2 N showed an increase in total activity recovery yield and considerable improvement in operational stability. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry