How can temperature affect reverse micellar extraction using sucrose fatty acid ester?

Abstract

The reverse micellar extraction of lysozyme using sucrose fatty acid ester was found to be greatly affected by the temperature in the extraction process. For example, lysozyme was perfectly extracted from the feed aqueous phase to the reverse micellar organic phase at 25°C, while it was not extracted at 5°C at all. After entrapping lysozyme into the reverse micelles, lysozyme was recovered from the reverse micellar organic phase to the recovery aqueous phase only by decreasing the temperature in the backward extraction. Moreover, lysozyme solubilized in the reverse micellar organic solution could be recovered without the recovery aqueous solution at 3°C, and its activity was retained at 95%.