Production and purification of an extracellular lipolytic enzyme using ionic liquid-based aqueous two-phase systems

The ability of ionic liquid-based aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) to purify lipase produced by fermentation is here evaluated and compared against conventional PEG-based ATPS systems. Four ionic liquids, chosen after screening of a larger number of ionic liquids are evaluated, with the maximum purification and higher recovery being obtained for the systems based on [C(8)mim]Cl. It is shown that IL-based ATPS have a performance superior to PEG-based ATPS for the purification of this enzyme.