ISSN:
0006-3592
Keywords:
lipozyme
;
esterification
;
continuous reactor
;
water activity
;
organic solvent
;
supercritical carbon dioxide
;
Chemistry
;
Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Nutrition Technology
Notes:
In the field of biocatalysis in nonaqueous media, water has been identified as a crucial parameter which has to be carefully controlled. This article studies the continuous operation of a water-producing enzymatic reaction, here the esterification of oleic acid by ethanol in n-hexane catalyzed by LipozymeTM. The conversion decreased significantly over time, eventually coming to a lower steady-state level. This would be due to the accumulation of the produced water into the enzyme fixed-bed reactor, n-hexane being unable to evacuate this water out of the reaction vessel, because of the low polarity of this solvent. Therefore the conversion decreased until the produced water could be eliminated by the solvent achieving a steady state with a lower conversion. In supercritical carbon dioxide, a more hydrophilic solvent, steady state is at once obtained. This approach has been extended to reaction producing a hydrophilic compound, here glycerol during the transesterification between triolein and ethanol, and similar conclusions can be made. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 56: 232-237, 1997.
Additional Material:
4 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
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