ENZYMATIC EXTRACTION OF SHEA FAT: A COMPARISON BETWEEN CRUDE AND COMMERCIAL ENZYME PREPARATIONS

Pectinases are one of the most used enzymes in food industry. Enzymes are widely used to improve upon process parameters such as product yield and rate of product formation. Such biotechnological applications are not currently exploited by industries in Ghana. The objective of the study was to determine the efficacy of locally produced pectinases from S. cerevisiae and other commercial enzymes in the extraction processes of shea butter. The crude pectinase was produced using corn cobs as a substrate and the microorganism Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 52712 in a solid state fermentation process. The crude pectinase had optimal protein concentration of 7.00 mg/ml with enzyme specific activity of 0.86 u/mg. The commercial enzymes were Viscozyme L (beta endo- 1, 3 (4)-glucanase activity with declared activity of 100 FBG/g as well as side activities of xylanase, cellulase and hemicellulases) and Pectinex 5XL (polygalacturonase activity with declared activity of 4500 PECTU/ml as well as arabinase side activity). The application of the crude pectinase gave an optimum oil recovery of 44.00 % with an enzyme dosage of 1.20 % while commercial Pectinex and commercial Viscozyme gave their optimum oil recovery of 58.60 % and 72.00 % respectively at enzyme dosages at 0.80 %. These results indicate the possible use of crude pectinase to improve shea fat extraction processes in Ghana if the enzymes are made available