Adsorption of lipase on polypropylene powder.

Adsorption of different lipases by EP-100 polypropylene powder from crude and pure lipase preparations was studied. Langmuir isotherms described the adsorption equilibria well both for protein and lipase activity adsorption. Adsorption isotherms for five different proteins all gave a similar saturation level of 220 mg protein per g carrier. Twelve commercial lipase preparations were tested for selectivity in the adsorption of lipase. For all preparations the selectivity factor was larger than one. In a crude lipase preparation from Pseudomonas fluorescence, the specific activity in solution decreased by two orders of magnitude after adsorption. The adsorption was not significantly influenced by pH changes in the adsorption buffer, indicating that hydrophobic and not electrostatic interactions are the dominating adsorption forces. Adsorption of a crude lipase from Candida rugosa (Sigma) was fast and equilibrium was reached in 30 and 100 min for protein and lipase activity adsorption respectively. Desorption in aqueous solution was negligible. Investigations with seven different lipases showed no correlation between the specific lipolytic activity of dissolved enzyme in aqueous solution and the specific activity of adsorbed enzyme in an esterification reaction in organic solvent.