Hydrolysis of animall fats by lipase at temperatures below their melting points

We have studied the hydrolysis of high melting animal fats by the lipase from Candidarugosa at temperatures between 20°C and 37°C without the addition of surfactants or organic solvents. To establish the practical applications of this process we investigated the optimal conditions of the reaction at high substrate concentrations (50% fat w/v) to achieve 95% hydrolysis (or better) in 24 hours. Experiments were conducted in solid emulsions without constant stirring (500 ml total reaction volume). Under all conditions tested, edible pork lard was a better substrate than inedible beef tallow yielding up to 96% hydrolysis with as low as 0.3 g lipase/Kg fat or 98% hydrolysis with 0.5 g lipase/Kg fat. The optimum temperature for the hydrolysis of edible pork lard was around 30°C. Inedible beef tallow and pork lard did not exhibit a clear optimum temperature. Inedible lard gave results intermediate between those of edible lard and inedible beef tallow.