Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2013, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (10): 1897-1904.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(12)60663-9

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Papain enzyme supported on magnetic nanoparticles:Preparation, characterization and application in the fruit juice clarification

Leila Mosafaa, Majid Moghadamb, Mohammad Shahedia   

  1. a Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156, Iran;
    b Department of Chemistry, Catalysis Division, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 81746-73441, Iran
  • Received:2013-05-16 Revised:2013-07-19 Online:2013-09-29 Published:2013-09-29
  • Contact: Majid Moghadam

Abstract:

The preparation, characterization, and application of silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles for papain immobilization is reported. Papain was covalently attached onto the (3-chloropropyl) trimethoxysilane-modified silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles. The enzyme-immobilized nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry techniques. Response surface methodology combined with statistical analyses using Minitab were employed to evaluate optimum operating conditions to immobilize papain on the magnetic nanoparticles. The optimum conditions were: temperature = 27.3 ℃, pH of the enzyme solution = 7.1, concentration of papain = 3.3 mg/mL, and immobilization time = 10 h. Compared with the free papain, the immobilized papain displayed enhanced enzyme activity, better tolerance to variations in the medium pH and temperature, improved storage stability, and good reusability. Both the free and immobilized enzymes were effective for the clarification of pomegranate juice.

Key words: Magnetic nanoparticle, Papain, Immobilization, Juice clarification, Enzyme activity