Bioreactors enzymatic processes

Chapter 3 is devoted to the topic of pervaporation membrane reactors. These are unique systems in that they use a liquid feed and a vacuum on the permeate side they also mostly utilize polymeric membranes. Chapter 4 presents a survey of membrane bioreactor processes these couple a biological reactor with a membrane process. Reactions studied in such systems include the broad class of fermentation-type or enzymatic processes, widely used in the biotechnology industry for the production of amino acids, antibiotics, and other fine chemicals. Similar membrane bioreactor systems are also fin-... 

Nowadays, studies of direct electrochemistry of redox proteins at the electrodesolution interface have held more and more scientists interest. Those studies are a convenient and informative means for understanding the kinetics and thermodynamics of biological redox processes. And they may provide a model for the study of the mechanism of electron transfer between enzymes in biological systems, and establish a foundation for fabricating new kinds of biosensors or enzymatic bioreactors. 

On the other hand, membranes are frequently employed in combination with a bioreactor, for instance, in enzymatic pharmaceutical processes. An example... 

The fifth paper, "A Separative Bioreactor Direct Product Capture and pH Control," presented by Seth Snyder of the Argonne National Laboratory, reviewed development and performance of a novel bioreactor incorporating electrodeionization to simultaneously produce and separate products from both enzymatic and microbially mediated reactions. The sixth paper, " Optimization of Xylose Fermentation in Spent Sulfite Liquor by Saccharomyces cerevisiae 259ST," presented by Steven Helle of the University of British Columbia, provided an overview of an approach to fermentation optimization utilized to identify key process variables limiting use of the SSL for commercial ethanol production. 

Fumarase. The development and use of this immobilized enzyme by Tanabe Seiyaku for production of L-malic acid is very similar to that of aspartase ( 3). Lysed Brevibacterium ammoniagenes or B. flavin cells are treated with bile acid to destroy enzymatic activity which converts fumarate to succinate. As with aspartase, the cells can be immobilized in polyacrylamide or k-carrageenan gels. Using a substrate stream of 1 M sodium fumarate at pH 7.0 and 37°C, L-malic acid of high purity has been produced since 1974 by a continuous, automated process (3,39) for example, using a 1000-L fixed-bed bioreactor, 42.2 kg L-malic acid per hour was produced continuously for 6 months. 

A number of important applications of inorganic membranes in biotechnology are related to bioreactors for enzymatic and microbial conversion processes. These will be... 

Gan Q, Allen SJ, Taylor G. (2005). Analysis of process integration and intensification of enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis in a membrane bioreactor. J Chem Techrwl Biotechnol, 80(6), 688-698. 

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