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An annular bound‐enzyme reactor
Author(s) -
Emery A.,
Sorenson J.,
Kolarik M.,
Swanson S.,
Lim H.
Publication year - 1974
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.260161005
Subject(s) - chemistry , substrate (aquarium) , chromatography , mass transfer , adsorption , immobilized enzyme , diffusion , continuous stirred tank reactor , bioreactor , volumetric flow rate , particle (ecology) , chemical engineering , enzyme , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , oceanography , physics , engineering , geology
A column reactor with an annular cross section was formed by rolling up DEAE cellulose paper and a screening spacer. Glucoamylase was attached by ion adsorption. For the spacer used, pressure drop was very low, suggesting that this form may be useful with feed streams that are not completely particle‐free. Tests of this reactor at the high substrate concentrations characteristic of commercial reactors showed very little diffusional resistance, exhibiting zero‐order behavior over most of the concentration range. At low concentrations, the reactor had an apparent “half‐order” behavior caused by diffusional limitation in the paper. In this range, flow rate influenced the reaction rate, showing that mass transfer in the main stream also is a contributing factor in this range. Because of the high concentrations and the low Michaelis constant (0.0011 M ) the reactor does not show first‐order behavior, even at very high conversions. The design of a plant‐scale reactor was formulated from these data. The increase in the quantity of enzyme necessary to compensate for the effects of diffusion was only a few percent. Two reactors were formed with sheets nonporous to the enzyme, binding the enzyme with cyanogen bromide after forming the reactor. The amount of enzyme bound was about one monolayer, and there appeared to be no diffusional limitations, even at low substrate concentrations.