Acid Protease Gelatin Extraction Process
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing enzymatic processes for extracting gelatin from collagen often require high amounts of water, lengthy processing times, and can result in low-quality gelatin due to non-specific proteolytic cleavage by broad-spectrum proteases.
Innovation Solution
A process involving incubation of collagen with an acid protease having at least 70% identity to a specific amino acid sequence, which results in high yield and quality gelatin without the need for additional heat treatment steps, using an enzyme composition predominantly composed of acid protease, preferably derived from microorganisms like Rasamsonia or Aspergillus, at optimized temperature and pH conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If hot water extraction is used to solubilize collagen, then collagen solubilization is improved, but gelatin strength decreases and large volumes of water are required
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the chemical parameter by using acid protease enzymes instead of hot water to solubilize collagen. The enzyme treatment at controlled pH and temperature conditions selectively hydrolyzes collagen into gelatin with high strength, avoiding the need for high temperature extraction that compromises gelatin quality.
2Quantity of substance
If hot water extraction is used to solubilize collagen, then collagen solubilization is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces the thermal-mechanical extraction process with a biochemical enzymatic process. Acid proteases catalyze the hydrolysis of collagen under mild conditions, significantly reducing processing time compared to traditional hot water extraction while maintaining high solubilization efficiency.
3Productivity
If broad spectrum proteases are used for enzymatic extraction, then gelatin yield is improved, but gelatin quality decreases due to non-specific cleavage
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by using acid proteases with specific substrate specificity that target particular peptide bonds in collagen. This selective enzymatic hydrolysis produces gelatin with controlled molecular weight distribution and high quality, avoiding the non-specific cleavage caused by broad spectrum proteases.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses acid proteases as specific intermediary enzymes that mediate the conversion of collagen to gelatin. These enzymes act as selective catalysts that recognize and hydrolyze specific peptide bonds in collagen, producing high-quality gelatin fragments with desired properties rather than random degradation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The process achieves a high yield of gelatin with a Bloom value of at least 200, reducing production costs and time, while maintaining good gelling properties and quality, with a higher amount of collagen solubilization compared to traditional methods.
Implementation Method 1
a step of incubating a material comprising collagen with an enzyme composition comprising an acid protease
Implementation Method 2
non-specific proteolytic cleavage of collagen
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a process for preparing gelatin comprising a step of incubating a material comprising collagen with an enzyme composition comprising an acid protease which has at least 70% identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, and preparing the gelatin. The invention also relates to gelatin obtained by a process as disclosed herein.