Production of structured triacylglycerols (STAG) rich in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in position 2 by acidolysis of tuna oil catalyzed by lipases

This work deals with the production of structured triacylglycerols (STAG) with caprylic acid (CA) located in positions 1 and 3 of the molecule of glycerol and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in position 2, by acidolysis of tuna oil and CA, catalyzed by several lipases. To this end several lipases and immobilization supports were tested with the aim of avoiding the acyl-migration observed in previous works. The determination of the best catalyst (i.e. the lipase and the immobilization support as a whole) was carried out by experiments of acidolysis of cod liver oil and CA in a bath reactor. The best results were obtained with the lipases from Rhizopus oryzae (Lipase D) and Rhizopus delemar (Lipase Rd), immobilized on Accurel MP1000 (a microporous polypropylene) with a lipase/support ratio 1:1.5 (w/w). The activity of these immobilized lipases was stable for a minimum of 5 days in the operational conditions (up to 40 °C).Lipase Rd was selected for the next step in which it was immobilized on Acurrel MP1000 to obtain STAG enriched in DHA by acidolysis of tuna oil (20% DHA) with CA. The experiments were carried out by recirculating the reaction mixture through an immobilized lipase packed bed reactor at different substrate/hexane ratios, as well as in absence of solvent. In the latter case, STAG with 51% CA and 13% DHA were obtained at 73 h. This result indicates that with this catalyst an acceptable reaction rate was attained in absence of solvent. A structural analysis by the pancreatic lipase method carried out to STAG with 45% CA and 16% DHA indicated that 91% of the CA incorporated is located in positions 1 and 3, and that 51% of the DHA is located in position 2 (MLM structure). This position is also rich in palmitic, eicosapentaenoic and oleic acids.After the acidolysis reaction a mixture of STAG and free fatty acids was obtained. The recovery of STAG from this reaction mixture is difficult because of the high content of free fatty acids. A separation method based on the neutralization of the free fatty acids with a KOH hydroalcoholic solution has been developed. By this procedure pure (100%) STAG were obtained with a recovery yield of 80%.