Thermodynamic and Kinetic Investigation on Aspergillus ficuum Tannase Immobilized in Calcium Alginate Beads and Magnetic Nanoparticles

Tannase from Aspergillus ficuum was immobilized by two different techniques for comparison of kinetic and thermodynamic parameters. Tannase was either entrapped in calcium alginate beads or covalently-immobilized onto magnetic diatomaceous earth nanoparticles. When immobilized on nanoparticles, tannase exhibited lower activation energy (15.1 kJ/mol) than when immobilized in alginate beads (31.3 kJ/mol). Surprisingly, the thermal treatment had a positive effect on tannase entrapped in alginate beads since the enzyme became more solvent exposed due to matrix leaching. Accordingly, the proposed mathematical model revealed a two-step inactivation process. In the former step the activity increased leading to activation energies of additional activity of 3.1 and 26.8 kJ/mol at 20–50°C and 50–70°C, respectively, while a slight decay occurred in the latter, resulting in the following thermodynamic parameters of denaturation: 14.3 kJ/mol activation energy as well as 5.6–9.7 kJ/mol standard Gibbs free energy, 15.6 kJ/mol standard enthalpy and 18.3–29.0 J/K.mol standard entropy variations. Conversely, tannase immobilized on nanoparticles displayed a typical linear decay trend with 43.8 kJ/mol activation energy, 99.2–103.1 kJ/mol Gibbs free energy, 41.1–41.3 kJ/mol enthalpy and −191.6/−191.0 J/K.mol entropy of denaturation. A 90-day shelf-life investigation revealed that tannase immobilized on nanoparticles was approximately twice more stable than the one immobilized in calcium alginate beads, which suggests its use and recycling in food industry clarification operations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comparative study on kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of a tannase produced by A. ficuum in its free and immobilized forms.