β-Xylosidase recovery by reversed micelles

β-Xylosidase, an enzyme produced by Penicillium janthinellum fungus, was prepurified by fractionated precipitation with ethanol and extracted by reversed micelles of N-benzyl-N-dodecyl-N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl) ammonium chloride (BDBAC) cationic surfactant. A 2^5-1 fractional factorial design was employed to evaluate the influence of the following factors on the enzyme extraction: pH (A), conductivity (B), surfactant concentration (C), cosolvent concentration (D) and temperature (E). A statistical analysis of the results revealed that, of the five variables studied, pH, surfactant concentration, and temperature had significant main effects (p<0.05) on the recovery of β-xylosidase (Y). However, the interactions between pH and temperature, conductivity and cosolvent concentration, conductivity and temperature, BDBAC concentration and temperature also had significant influences. A first-order model (R ²=0.98) expressed by the equation Y=7.73−5.55A−0.67B+3.49C−0.41D+5.26E+2.05AB−3.26AC+0.96AD−7.07AE−3.93BD−2.19BE+0.99CD+0.78CE was proposed to represent the enzyme recovery as a function of the effects that were really significant. This model predicts a recovery value of about 40%, which is similar to that obtained experimentally (39.5%).