Removal of glycerol from enzymatically produced 2-α-D-glucosylglycerol by discontinuous diafiltration

We provide here the underlying data of the scientific publication "Removal of glycerol from enzymatically produced 2-α-D-glucosylglycerol by discontinuous diafiltration". Please find the abstract below:

2-α-D-Glucosyl-glycerol (2-GG) is a natural glycoside that acts as a biological extremolyte. 2-
GG is a promising ingredient for cosmetic products. Industrially, 2-GG is synthesised from
sucrose in the presence of a high excess of glycerol using the enzyme sucrose
phosphorylase. For commercial applications, the surplus glycerol must be removed and an
efficient purification strategy is therefore demanded. Here, we demonstrate nanofiltration for
the separation of glycerol from 2-GG. Based on membrane screening performed at varied
pressure and temperature, we identified a 150 – 300 Da cut-off polyamide membrane for the
selective removal of glycerol at high permeate throughput. An enzymatically produced 2-GG
solution was purified with multicycle discontinuous diafiltration on the litre scale. The process
was operated at constant permeate flux (13 kg m² h-1) and at a temperature of 30 °C. A
complete removal of glycerol was achieved after six diafiltration cycles. This was in
accordance with the simulation results of a mass balance model. The purity of the product
solution increased to 80%, which is comparable with commercially products containing
functional carbohydrates. The achieved product recovery was around 84%.