Studying enzyme-catalized depolymerizations in continuous reactors

The models of Ohmine et al. and Sendra and Carbonell for the enzymatic breakdown of polymers in batch reactors were modified to describe the depolymerization in continuous reactors. The model equations give the time course of the product concentration in the reactor permeate and that of the total product. The model predictions were compared with the experimental results for the hydrolysis of polygalacturonic acid in ultrafiltration membrane reactors. The amount of enzyme in the reactor varied from 0.18 to 1.80 mg. The residence time (100 min), temperature (25 °C), and membrane molecular cutoff (30 kDa) were maintained constant in the experiments. The system response was sensitive to the kinetic pattern of the enzymatic attack and was in reasonable agreement only with the predictions of the model based on the kinetic assumption made by Sendra and Carbonell. An induction period and an asymptotic amount of product were detected, which cannot be explained by the model of Ohmine et al. Copyright © 2001 American Chemical Society