Novel process for immobilizing an enzyme on a bacterial cellulose membrane through repeated absorption

Abstract BACKGROUND In enzyme immobilization, one crucial step is carrier selection; the immobilization efficiency is a major factor. It should be improved since enzyme is one of the expensive components in the procedure. Most carriers need to be activated before immobilization and the immobilized efficiency is low, especially using bacterial cellulose ( BC ). In this study, the immobilized efficiency of BC was improved by the special physical property, high water capacity. RESULTS Lipase was used as a model enzyme for immobilizing BC membranes. After investigating different immobilization procedures, a two‐step absorption method consisting of activation in the first step and enzyme attachment in the second step was determined to be the most favorable. The immobilized enzyme exhibits 93.5% high activity compared with the free enzyme. The activity performance at various pH values and temperatures was similar for the immobilized and free enzymes. Therefore, the environment created using immobilization in BC membranes is similar to the reaction solution of the free enzyme. Regarding the reuse stability, the immobilized lipase retained 60% of the original activity after 15 repeated usages. CONCLUSION The two‐step absorption method on BC membranes is potentially effective for preparing immobilized lipase. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry