Enrichment of Erucic and Gondoic Fatty Acids from Crambe and Camelina Oils Catalyzed by Geotrichum candidum Lipases I and II

Erucic (22:1, cis Delta 13) and gondoic acids (20:1, cis Delta 11) are building blocks obtained from renewable sources for the oleochemical industry. Different biocatalytic strategies for the enrichment of these compounds with high recovery yields were developed in our group. Geotrichum candidum lipases (GCL) strongly discriminate against fatty acids longer than 18 carbon atoms. Thus, GCL-I and -II were investigated using hydrolysis or ethanolysis reactions with Crambe and Camelina oils. Hydrolysis was also studied using fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) derived from the corresponding oil. Both isoforms were highly selective; however, interesting differences were observed. Although it has been reported that GCL-I displays a higher preference toward 18 cis Delta 9, which is present in the studied oils at high levels, GCL-II showed higher enrichment values during hydrolysis independent of the substrate used. Hence, enrichments of 87% (Crambe oil) and 82% (Crambe FAEE) for erucic acid and 50% (Camelina oil) and 45% (Camelina FAEE) for gondoic acid, with recovery values between 89% and 99%, were achieved. On the contrary, the best enzyme for ethanolysis was GCL-I (82% and 41% for erucic and gondoic acid, respectively). In this case, although GCL-II also displayed good enrichment and recovery levels (77% and 28%, respectively), they were lower compared to the former reactions. In both ethanolysis reactions, the FAEE fraction contained between 92% and 97% of 18 unsaturated fatty acids.