Enzymatic Interesterification of Katsuwonus palamis fish oil from North Sulawesi with lauric acid.

Abstract

Over the last decade, there has been considerable interest  in  healthier foods, one of which has been to convert fatty acid components to unsaturated components. This is one of the products known as Lipid-Specific Structure (LSS). The synthesis of lipids structured using the transesterification process is beneficial in improving the functional properties and nutritional value of fats and oils, as expected in some processed products. Enzymatic transesterification of fish oil from North Sulawesi (Katsuoparamis) extracted using a wet recovery process was investigated. The first experiment was carried out using different temperatures i.e. 30o, 40o, 50o and 60o C for 12 hours time of reactions, while the second experiment was carried out using the best reaction temperature obtained from first experiment with different times of reaction namely 0 (early time), 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours respectively. Those samples were then analysed using Gas Chromatography to determine lauric acid incorporation within the skipjack fish oil. The fatty acids in the acidolysis fish oil analysed by changing fatty acid into Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) before injected into the Gas Chromatography apparatus. The best reaction time was found at 50oC which was shown by 39.79% lauric acid was incorporated within the fish oil, whilst the best  time of reaction was obtained at 24 hours where 48.18% as the highest percentage of  lauric acid  incorporated into the skipjack fish oil. Fatty acids rearrangement due to enzymatic interesterification was observed at sample after interesterification with lauric acid and catalyzed by specific Mucor miehei lipase enzyme as showed by high lauric acid (14.94%) and methyl laurate (25.50%) contents. Therefore it can be concluded that interesterification of skipjack oil with lauric acid will be best if carried out at 50o C for 24 hours.