Greener and feasible production: Enzymatic methods for mono- and diacylglycerol synthesis in the food industry
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GRAPHIC ABSTRACT.
view moreCREDIT: THE AUTHORS
MAGs, predominantly in 1(3)-MAG form, and DAGs, with 1,3-DAGs as the more stable isomer, are crucial in food, cosmetic, and other industries. While MAGs are vital emulsifiers, comprising 75% of global production, DAGs are known as functional cooking oils that can reduce body fat and serum TAGs. However, their natural concentration in oils is low, prompting extensive research into their chemical and environmentally-friendly enzymatic production.
Recently, a review published in the Grain & Oil Science and Technology journal on 2 November 2023, has shed light on the advancements in enzymatic production methods with special efforts on practical and industrial technologies such as comprehensive discussions on system designs and patent evaluations. This study presents these methods as a sustainable and efficient alternative to conventional chemical processes, emphasizing their role in revolutionizing industry standards.
This review presents an in-depth review of the last 15 years in enzymatic production of monoacylglycerols (MAGs) and diacylglycerols (DAGs), focusing on the advancements and varied pathways like esterification, glycerolysis, and more. It emphasizes how enzyme choice, substrates, and conditions affect the efficiency and quality of MAGs and DAGs, highlighting the role of reaction media in enhancing reaction homogeneity and product yield. The review also explores the practicalities of scaling enzymatic processes for industrial use, discussing the challenges of maintaining enzyme activity and the economic implications of enzyme use. Additionally, it evaluates numerous patents, reflecting a growing interest in this eco-friendly technology. The review underlines the transformative potential of enzymatic production in delivering higher quality, more sustainable MAGs and DAGs while acknowledging the ongoing challenges and the need for further innovation in this field.
The review's lead authors, Jiawei Zheng and colleagues, underscore the industry's increasing shift towards enzymatic processes over the past two decades. They note, "Enzymatic methods are not just alternatives but are becoming the standard due to their specificity, lower energy requirements, and ability to preserve sensitive components."
Transitioning to enzymatic production has vast implications for the food industry, offering safer and more sustainable emulsifiers and cooking oils. The ability to control reaction specifics leads to higher quality products, meeting consumer demands for healthier and more natural food ingredients. From the discussion of the practical considerations of technologies and potential possibilities, the reasonable economy for the production in plants can be expected.
The review anticipates further industry adoption and innovation in enzyme technologies. However, it also calls for continued research to overcome challenges like reaction efficiency and large-scale application, ensuring that enzymatic methods can fully meet global demand.
Reference
Funding information
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (31772000).
DOI
10.1016/j.gaost.2023.10.002
Original Url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaost.2023.10.002
About Grain & Oil Science and Technology
Grain & Oil Science and Technology (GOST, https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/grain-and-oil-science-and-technology) is a peer-reviewed Open Access (OA) journal and upon acceptance all articles are permanently and freely available on ScienceDirect. GOST publishes innovative papers in the fields of grain engineering (processing and storage of staple food grain and cereals), food science and engineering (food chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, nutrition, food safety), oil science and engineering (processing and storage of oils and fats, oil chemistry for food use). Contributions written in English in the form of critical reviews, research papers, short communications, short reviews are welcomed.
JOURNAL
Grain & Oil Science and Technology
ARTICLE TITLE
Enzymatic preparation of mono- and diacylglycerols: A review
Effect of ultrasound-assisted fermentation on physicochemical properties and volatile flavor compounds of Chinese rice wine
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PULSED MULTI-FREQUENCY SCANNING ULTRASONIC EQUIPMENT. 1: COMPUTER CONTROL SYSTEM; 2: ULTRASONIC GENERATOR; 3: ULTRASONIC POOL; 4: SAMPLE TREATMENT VESSEL; 5: WATER; 6: ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER.
view moreCREDIT: RONG ZHANG ET AL
Traditional Chinese rice wine (RW) has been popular in China for thousands of years. The brewing process involves simultaneous saccharification and solid-state fermentation using mixed saccharifying starters, such as wheat starter and distiller’s yeast. However, the brewing medium contains a diverse array of microorganisms, and the quality of starters varies across regions. This leads to an unpredictable fermentation process and inconsistent RW product quality. In addition, traditionally fermented RW has several limitations including thin taste, long brewing time, slow product conversion and limited application of high-technology. Although some progress has been made in addressing the limitations of traditional brewing, the need for further research and innovation remains.
Ultrasound, as a new non-thermal physical processing technique, has extensively been utilized to overcome the drawbacks of conventional fermentation. Some studies have showed that the application of ultrasonic technology in brewing can enhance the fermentation efficiency and quality. To date, research on ultrasound-assisted fermentation has mainly focused on the pure culture fermentation process in the laboratory.
To that end, a new study published in the KeAi journal Food Physics, established an enzymatic brewing process for RW by simulating actual production. By adding α-amylase to liquefy the starch, it is hydrolyzed from long-chain starch to short-chain dextrin and oligosaccharides to assist saccharifying enzyme in converting starch into fermentable sugar.
The researchers, based in China, analyzed the impact of ultrasound on the physicochemical properties and volatile compounds during the fermentation process. They found that concentrations of isobutyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, ethyl hexanoate and phenethyl acetate exhibited significant increases of 58.03%, 107.70%, 31.84%, and 18.71%, respectively.
The findings suggest that the utilization of ultrasound in the brewing process could be feasible for simplifying the procedure, reducing brewing time and enhancing the volatile flavor profile of RW.
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Contact the author: Rong Zhang, School of Food and Biological Engineering,Jiangsu University,Zhenjiang 212013,China. Email:zhangrong1776@126.com
The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
JOURNAL
Food Physics
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Experimental study
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
Cells
ARTICLE TITLE
Effect of ultrasound-assisted fermentation on physicochemical properties and volatile flavor compounds of Chinese rice wine
COI STATEMENT
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Using electricity, scientists find promising new method of boosting chemical reactions
UChicago chemists hope to lay foundation for greener chemistry
As the world moves away from gas towards electricity as a greener power source, the to-do list goes beyond cars. The vast global manufacturing network that makes everything from our batteries to our fertilizers needs to flip the switch, too.
A study from UChicago chemists found a way to use electricity to boost a type of chemical reaction often used in synthesizing new candidates for pharmaceutical drugs.
Published Jan. 2 in Nature Catalysis, the research is an advance in the field of electrochemistry and shows a path forward to designing and controlling reactions—and making them more sustainable.
“What we want to do is understand what’s happening at the fundamental level at the electrode interface, and use that to predict and design more efficient chemical reactions,” said Anna Wuttig, UChicago Neubauer Family Assistant Professor and the senior author on the paper. “This is a step towards that eventual goal.”
Chemical complexity
In certain chemical reactions, electricity can boost the output—and because you can get the needed electricity from renewable sources, it could be part of making the worldwide chemical industry greener.
But electrochemistry, as the field is known, is especially complex. There is much scientists don’t know about the molecular interactions, especially because you have to insert a conductive solid (an electrode) into the mix to provide the electricity, which means the molecules interact with that electrode as well as with each other. To a scientist trying to untangle the roles each molecule is playing and in what order, this makes an already complicated process even more complicated.
Wuttig, however, wants to turn this into an advantage. “What if you think about it as electrochemistry providing us with a unique design lever that’s not possible in any other system?” she said.
In this case, she and her team focused on the surface of the electrode that provides the electricity to the reaction.
“There were hints that the surface itself is catalytic, that it plays a role,” Wuttig said, “but we don’t know how to systematically control those interactions at the molecular level.”
They tinkered with a type of reaction that is commonly used in manufacturing chemicals for medicine, to form a bond between two carbon atoms.
According to theoretical predictions, when this reaction is performed using electricity, the yield from the reaction should be 100%—that is, all the molecules that went in are made into a single new substance. But when you actually run the reaction in the lab, the yield is lower.
The team thought the presence of the electrode was tempting some of the molecules away from where they were needed during the reaction. They found that adding a key ingredient could help: a chemical known as a Lewis acid added to the liquid solution redirected those molecules.
“You get a near-clean reaction,” Wuttig said.
Catalyzing change
Moreover, the team was able to use special imaging techniques to watch the reactions unfold at the molecular level. “You can see that the presence of the modulator has a profound effect on the interfacial structure,” she said. “This allows us to visualize and understand what’s happening, rather than regard it as a black box.”
This is a crucial step, Wuttig said, because it shows a path forward towards being able to not only use the electrode in chemistry, but also to predict and control its effects.
Another benefit is that the electrode can be re-used for more reactions. (In most reactions, the catalyst is dissolved in the liquid and is drained away during the purification process to get the final product).
“This is a step towards sustainable synthesis,” she said. “Moving forward, my group is very excited to use these types of concepts and strategies to map out and address other synthetic challenges.”
JOURNAL
Nature Catalysis
ARTICLE TITLE
Interfacial tuning of electrocatalytic Ag surfaces for fragment-based electrophile coupling
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
2-Jan-2024
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