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The process of lipid crystallization influences the characteristics of lipid. By changing the chemical composition of the lipid system, the crystallization behavior could be controlled. This review elucidates the internal factors affecting lipid crystallization, including triacylglycerol (TAG) structure, TAG composition, and minor components. The influence of these factors on the TAG crystal polymorphic form, nanostructure, microstructure, and physical properties is discussed. The interplay of these factors collectively influences crystallization across various scales. Variations in fatty acid chain length, double bonds, and branching, along with their arrangement on the glycerol backbone, dictate molecular interactions within and between TAG molecules. High-melting-point TAG dominates crystallization, while liquid oil hinders the process but facilitates polymorphic transitions. Unique molecular interactions arise from specific TAG combinations, yielding molecular compounds with distinctive properties. Nanoscale crystallization is significantly impacted by liquid oil and minor components. The interaction between the TAG and minor components determines the influence of minor components on the crystallization process. In addition, future perspectives on better design and control of lipid crystallization are also presented.

In the glycerolysis process for diacylglycerol (DAG) preparation, free lipases suffer from poor stability and the inability to be reused. To address this, a cost-effective immobilized lipase preparation was developed by cross-linking macroporous resin with poly (ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether (PEGDGE) followed by lipase adsorption. The selected immobilization conditions were identified as pH 7.0, 35 °C, cross-linking agent concentration 2.0%, cross-linking time 4 h, lipase amount 5 mg/g of support, and adsorption time 4 h. Enzymatic properties of the immobilized lipase were analyzed, revealing enhanced pH stability, thermal stability, storage stability, and operational stability post-immobilization. The conditions for immobilized enzyme-catalyzed glycerolysis to produce DAG were selected, demonstrating the broad applicability of the immobilized lipase. The immobilized lipase catalyzed glycerolysis reactions using various oils as substrates, with DAG content in the products ranging between 35 and 45%, demonstrating broad applicability. Additionally, the changes during the repeated use of the immobilized lipase were characterized, showing that mechanical damage, lipase leakage, and alterations in the secondary structure of the lipase protein contributed to the decline in catalytic activity over time. These findings provide valuable insights for the industrial application of lipase.

Structured lipids (SLs) refer to a new type of functional lipid obtained by modifying natural triacylglycerol (TAG) through the restructuring of fatty acids, thereby altering the composition, structure, and distribution of fatty acids attached to the glycerol backbones. Due to the unique functional characteristics of SLs (easy to absorb, low in calories, reduced serum TAG, etc.), there is increasing interest in the research and application of SLs. SLs were initially prepared using chemical methods. With the wide application of enzymes in industries and the advantages of enzymatic synthesis (mild reaction conditions, high catalytic efficiency, environmental friendliness, etc.), synthesis of SLs using lipase has aroused great interest. This review summarizes the reaction system of SL production and introduces the enzymatic synthesis and application of some of the latest SLs discussed/developed in recent years, including medium- to long-chain triacylglycerol (MLCT), diacylglycerol (DAG), EPA- and DHA-enriched TAG, human milk fat substitutes, and esterified propoxylated glycerol (EPG). Lastly, several new ways of applying SLs (powdered oil, DAG plastic fat, inert gas spray oil, and emulsion) in the future food industry are also highlighted.

Palm pressed fibre (PPF) is a lignocellulose biomass generated from palm oil mill that is rich in cellulose. The present work aimed to combine acid hydrolysis followed by high-pressure homogenisation (HPH) to produce nanocrystal cellulose (CNC) with enhanced physicochemical properties from PPF. PPF was alkaline treated, bleached, acid hydrolysed and homogenised under high pressure condition to prepare CNC. The effects of homogenisation pressure (10, 30, 50, 70 MPa) and cycles (1, 3, 5, 7) on the particle size, zeta potential and rheological properties of CNC produced were investigated. HPH was capable of producing CNC with better stability. Results revealed that utilizing 1 cycle of homogenisation at a pressure of 50 MPa resulted in CNC with the smallest dimension, highest aspect ratio, moderate viscosity and exceptionally high zeta potential. Subsequently, 0.15% (CNC 0.15 -PE) and 0.30% (CNC 0.30 -PE) of CNC was used to stabilise oil-in-water emulsions and their stability was evaluated against different pH, temperature and ionic strength. All the CNC-stabilised emulsions demonstrated good thermal stability. CNC 0.30 -PE exhibited larger droplets but higher stability than CNC 0.15 -PE. In short, CNC with gel like structure has a promising potential to serve as a natural Pickering emulsifier to stabilise oil-in-water emulsion in various food applications.

Palm oil is the world’s most-produced vegetable oil that is serving as an important source of food and energy for many developing and underdeveloped countries. The global demand for palm oil will continue to rise, owing to the growing population and economy. Presently, tremendous efforts have been devoted to improving the sustainability of palm oil production. One strategy is to improve the oil extraction rate (OER) during the milling process. The average OER in Malaysia has remained stagnant between 19 and 21% for the past 40 years. Based on the world production of palm oil in 2018, approximately 3 million tonnes of additional palm oil can be produced globally with a 1% increase in OER. In this paper, the current status of the palm oil milling process and the factors affecting the OER are discussed. Subsequently, the methods to improve the OER are reviewed. Furthermore, the importance of producing good quality oil whilst improving the OER is emphasised. In conclusion, some of the methods reviewed have the potential for industrial application and they warrant further investigation. Graphical Abstract

Diacylglycerol (DAG) and monoacylglycerol (MAG) are two natural occurring minor components found in most edible fats and oils. These compounds have gained increasing market demand owing to their unique physicochemical properties. Enzymatic glycerolysis in solvent-free system might be a promising approach in producing DAG and MAG-enriched oil. Understanding on glycerolysis mechanism is therefore of great importance for process simulation and optimization. In this study, a commercial immobilized lipase (Lipozyme TL IM) was used to catalyze the glycerolysis reaction. The kinetics of enzymatic glycerolysis reaction between triacylglycerol (TAG) and glycerol (G) were modeled using rate equation with unsteady-state assumption. Ternary complex, ping-pong bi-bi and complex ping-pong bi-bi models were proposed and compared in this study. The reaction rate constants were determined using non-linear regression and sum of square errors (SSE) were minimized. Present work revealed satisfactory agreement between experimental data and the result generated by complex ping-pong bi-bi model as compared to other models. The proposed kinetic model would facilitate understanding on enzymatic glycerolysis for DAG and MAG production and design optimization of a pilot-scale reactor.

There is a growing demand for a plant‐based diet (meat analogue/plant‐based milk) due to an increase in awareness towards health issues, environmental sustainability, and animal ethical issues. The replacement of dairy has recently been one of the market efforts to fulfill such demand. Yet, challenges arise when consumers are reluctant to accept plant‐based milk (PBM) due to the mismatch of organoleptic profile between PBM and the actual dairy. Hence, this study aims to understand the sensory drivers of liking in PBM through the development of a novel palm kernel milk (PKM 1.0). Furthermore, the study also aimed to examine the effect of reformulation (PKM 2.0) and flavor addition on sensorial acceptability improvement. Results showed that PKM 2.0 appeared similar to almond milk but is nutritionally denser like soymilk and oat milk. An acceptance score of 5.17 out of 9 was obtained for PKM 2.0 which is only slightly lower than 6.18 out of 9 and 6.36 out of 9 for oat milk and soymilk, respectively. Introducing flavors significantly improves the sample acceptance and reduces “bland” attributes. A high acceptance score of 7.24 out of 9 was obtained for chocolate‐flavored PKM along with a strong correlation with “rich”, “sweet”, and “creamy” attributes. A correlation matrix showed that “smooth”, “sweet”, “roasted”, “creamy”, and “rich” are the attributes the consumers desired. Correlation between hedonic analysis and CATA analysis helps to identify preferred sensory traits among different plant‐based milks. The sensory traits preferred by consumers are “roasted”, “sweet”, “smooth”, “rich”, and “creamy.” Addition of flavors significantly enhanced the acceptability of plant‐based milk.

Enzymatic production of diacylglycerol (DAG)-enriched oil has been investigated extensively due to its health benefits with total annual sales of approximately USD 200 million in Japan since its introduction in the late 1990s till 2009. Enzymatic catalysis had been proven to exhibit improved results with respect to yield, purity, reaction time, and stability in comparison with chemical catalysis. The cost of the enzymes, however, is the main hurdle to the widespread use of enzyme for commercial DAG production. This paper attempts to review and summarize various lipase-mediated technological methods for DAG production. Critical aspects such as process considerations on DAG synthesis, mass transfer limitations as well as kinetic mechanism models developed for each enzymatic approach in DAG synthesis are also presented and discussed. In addition, possible reactor configurations were evaluated, if lipase-assisted DAG production is to be technically and economically feasible at an industrial scale.

Background Demand for high-throughput bioprocessing has dramatically increased especially in the biopharmaceutical industry because the technologies are of vital importance to process optimization and media development. This can be efficiently boosted by using microtiter plate (MTP) cultivation setup embedded into an automated liquid-handling system. The objective of this study was to establish an automated microscale method for upstream and downstream bioprocessing of α-IFN2b production by recombinant Escherichia coli . The extraction performance of α-IFN2b by osmotic shock using two different systems, automated microscale platform and manual extraction in MTP was compared. Results The amount of α-IFN2b extracted using automated microscale platform (49.2 μg/L) was comparable to manual osmotic shock method (48.8 μg/L), but the standard deviation was 2 times lower as compared to manual osmotic shock method. Fermentation parameters in MTP involving inoculum size, agitation speed, working volume and induction profiling revealed that the fermentation conditions for the highest production of α-IFN2b (85.5 μg/L) was attained at inoculum size of 8%, working volume of 40% and agitation speed of 1000 rpm with induction at 4 h after the inoculation. Conclusion Although the findings at MTP scale did not show perfect scalable results as compared to shake flask culture, but microscale technique development would serve as a convenient and low-cost solution in process optimization for recombinant protein.

Maillard reaction products (MRPs) are believed to possess antioxidant property besides producing emulsion which is stable and smaller in size. In our work, utilization of MRP as encapsulating agent for structured lipid palm-based medium- and long-chain triacylglycerol (MLCT) was investigated. The MRP prepared from heated aqueous mixture of sodium caseinate (SC), soy protein (SP) and maltodextrin (M) was emulsified with MLCT prior spray drying. The effect of temperature (20, 40, 60, 80, 100 °C), incubation time (2, 6, 8 h), mixture of SC: SP: M (1:0:1, 2:1:3, 1:1:2, 1:2:3, 0:1:1) and carbohydrate + protein:water ratio (1:5 and 1:8) on glycation was investigated. Degree of glycation (Dg) was determined via amount of block amino acid and L*a*b* value. As expected, increasing heat treatment (20, 40, 60, 80, 100 °C) and incubation time (2, 6 and 8 h) significantly ( P  < 0.05) increase the Dg. Dg was also higher ( P  < 0.05) at high water to solid content. Subsequently, the influence of Dg on physical properties of emulsion and spray-dried powder was also evaluated. It was found that glycation has the ability to reduce the emulsion size besides lowering moisture and surface oil content and creating larger microparticle size of the spray-dried powder. Nonetheless, whitening ability and solubility of the powder are slightly reduced especially when 100 °C MRP was used for encapsulation. SEM showed that glycation resulted in particle with smoother surface. MRP can be utilized as natural emulsifier besides improving certain functional properties of spray-dried powder oil.