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Dissolving carbon dioxide in high viscous substrates to accelerate biocatalytic reactions
Author(s) -
Brummund Jan,
Meyer Florian,
Liese Andreas,
Eggers Rudolf,
Hilterhaus Lutz
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.23230
Subject(s) - dissolution , carbon dioxide , lauric acid , viscosity , chemistry , biotransformation , solvent , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , bar (unit) , catalysis , chromatography , materials science , enzyme , fatty acid , meteorology , physics , engineering , composite material
Solvent free biotransformation of polyglycerol‐3 and lauric acid yields polyglycerol‐3‐laurate and water. This conversion can be catalyzed by Novozym 435. However, the performance is limited by the viscosity of polyglycerol as well as of polyglycerol‐3‐laurate. A decrease of viscosity by increasing reaction temperature is only possible in a certain temperature range because of the limited stability of the applied enzyme. By dissolving high dense carbon dioxide into the reaction system the viscosity could be reduced, keeping the temperature at an acceptable level at the same time. Thus the reaction rate was increased by a factor of 4 while working at a pressure of 280 bar and 60°C. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2011;108: 2765–2769. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.