Hollow-fiber enzymatic reactor

Breslau, B.R. and Kilcullen, B.M., "Hollow Fiber Enzymatic Reactors An... 

Ujang, Z., Al-Sharbati, A. N., and Vaidya, A. M., Organic-phase enzymatic esterification in a hollow fiber membrane reactor with in situ gas-phase water activity control, Biotechnol. Prog., 13, 39 2, 1997. 

An enzymatic production process for Diltiazem (54), a coronary vasodilator and calcium channel blocker, was started in 1993 by Tanabe Seiyaku, Japan [7, 77]. The epoxide (2i, 3S)-52 is a key intermediate in this synthesis (Scheme 17) and can be produced via asymmetric hydrolysis of rac-52 catalyzed by Serratia marescens lipase immobilized on spongy layers. The whole process takes place in a polyacrylonitrile hollow fiber membrane reactor and produces (2i, 3S)-52 in yields of 40-45%. The hydrolyzed product (2S,3i )-53 is not stable under the prevailing reaction conditions and decarboxylates to aldehyde 55, a strong enzyme deactivator. The aldehyde needs therefore to be removed, which is achieved by continuous filtration of its bisulfite adduct 56. Using this enzymatic process it was possible to bring down the number of required steps en route to 54 from nine to five. This process is also carried out by other companies (e.g., DSM) with a worldwide annual production of 1001. 

Habnlin M, Knez Z, (1991), Enzymatic synthesis of n-bntyl oleate in a hollow fiber membrane reactor , / Membrane Sci., 61,315-324. 

The first published information on the industrial application of a hybrid system with a HF contactor for production of the drug dilthiazem intermediate was reported by Lopez and Matson [23]. An enzymatic resolution of dilthiazem chiral intermediate is realized in an extractive enzymatic membrane reactor. The enzyme is entrapped in the macroporous sponge part of the hydrophilic hollow-fiber membrane made of a... 

The rapid development of biotechnology during the 1980s provided new opportunities for the application of reaction engineering principles. In biochemical systems, reactions are catalyzed by enzymes. These biocatalysts may be dispersed in an aqueous phase or in a reverse micelle, supported on a polymeric carrier, or contained within whole cells. The reactors used are most often stirred tanks, bubble columns, or hollow fibers. If the kinetics for the enzymatic process is known, then the effects of reaction conditions and mass transfer phenomena can be analyzed quite successfully using classical reactor models. Where living cells are present, the growth of the cell mass as well as the kinetics of the desired reaction must be modeled [16, 17]. 

A membrane cell recycle reactor with continuous ethanol extraction by dibutyl phthalate increased the productivity fourfold with increased conversion of glucose from 45 to 91%.249 The ethanol was then removed from the dibutyl phthalate with water. It would be better to do this second step with a membrane. In another process, microencapsulated yeast converted glucose to ethanol, which was removed by an oleic acid phase containing a lipase that formed ethyl oleate.250 This could be used as biodiesel fuel. Continuous ultrafiltration has been used to separate the propionic acid produced from glycerol by a Propionibacterium.251 Whey proteins have been hydrolyzed enzymatically and continuously in an ultrafiltration reactor, with improved yields, productivity, and elimination of peptide coproducts.252 Continuous hydrolysis of a starch slurry has been carried out with a-amylase immobilized in a hollow fiber reactor.253 Oils have been hydrolyzed by a lipase immobilized on an aromatic polyamide ultrafiltration membrane with continuous separation of one product through the membrane to shift the equilibrium toward the desired products.254 Such a process could supplant the current energy-intensive industrial one that takes 3-24 h at 150-260X. Lipases have also been used to prepare esters. A lipase-surfactant complex in hexane was used to prepare a wax ester found in whale oil, by the esterification of 1 hexadecanol with palmitic acid in a membrane reactor.255 After 1 h, the yield was 96%. The current industrial process runs at 250°C for up to 20 h. 

The bank of 60 m commercial-scale membrane reactor modules in diltiazem production facility employing hydrophilic polyaCTylonitrile hollow fibers was demonstrated. This example describes enzymatic resolution of diltiazem precursor using hydrophilic polyacrylonitrile hollow fibers and an aqueous-organic interface on the outside surface of these fibers (Eigure 4.16) [1,3,116]. 

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