Lipase is one of the most widely used enzymes in biocatalysis. Because of the special structure of the catalytic active center, lipases show high catalytic activity at oil-water interfaces. Hence, the interface plays a key role in activating and modulating lipase biocatalysis. Compared with traditional catalytic systems that offer interfaces, such as emulsions, a lipase-membrane bioreactor exhibits many obvious advantages when at the macroscopic oil-water system. In our current research, a series of new Burkholderia cepacia lipase (BCL)-SiO2 nanofiber membrane (NFM) bioreactors prepared via combined electrospinning and immobilization strategies were reported. These SiO2 NFMs assisted BCL in reaching the oil-water interface for efficient catalysis. The enzyme loading capacity and catalytic efficiency of BCL-SiO2 NFMs varied with the surface hydrophobicity of the electrospun NFMs. As the hydrophobicity increased, the activity decreased from 2.43-fold to 0.74-fold that of free BCL. However, the lipase-loading capacity increased obviously when the hydrophobicity of the SiO2 NFMs increased from 0 to 143°, and no significant change was observed when the hydrophobicity of the SiO2 NFMs increased from 143 to 153°. The gel trapping technique proved that the hydrolytic activity of the different BCL-SiO2 NFM bioreactors depends on the contact area of the membrane at the oil-water interface. BCL-SiO2 NFM, BCL-SiO2 NFM-C12, and BCL-SiO2 NFM-C18 retained 32, 83, and 42% of activity, respectively, after five cycles of reuse. The current work was a useful exploration of the construction and modification of lipase-membrane reactors based on electrospun inorganic silicon.
Keywords: SiO2; electrospinning; interface; lipase; membrane bioreactor.