A novel lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase for soybean oil refining provides higher yields and extra nutritional value with a cleaner process

HAILS, GUILLERMO; CERMINATI, SEBASTIÁN; PAOLETTI, LUCIANA; CABRERA, RODOLFO; PEIRÚ, SALVADOR; AGUIRRE, ANDRÉS; CASTELLI, MARÍA E.; MENZELLA, HUGO G.

APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

SPRINGER

Año: 2020 p. 1 - 10

0175-7598

AbstractThe growing demand for food and biofuels urges the vegetable oil processing industry to adopt cleaner technologies to mitigatethe environmental pollution caused by chemical refining processes. Over the past decade, several enzymatic methods haveproven to be efficient at reducing the generated waste, but improving the benefit-cost ratio is still necessary for the widespreadadoption of this technology. In this work, we show that lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase from Aeromonas enteropelogenes(LCATAE) provides a higher extra-yield of soybean oil than a type A1 phospholipase (PLA) enzyme currently commercializedfor soybean oil deep degumming. Our model indicates that crude soybean oil treated with the new enzyme generates 87% moreneutral oil from phospholipids than the widely used PLA, with the corresponding reduction in waste and byproducts generation.The refined oil retains the phytosterols naturally present in crude oil, enriching its nutritional value. The results presented hereposition LCATAE as a promising candidate to provide the green solutions needed by the industrial oil processing sector.