Abstract

MEMBRANE REACTOR APPLIED TO ENZYME CONVERSION OF SUCROSE AND GLUCOSE

Michele Vitolo*

ABSTRACT

Membrane reactor (MR) is a pressure-resistant glass or stainless-steel vessel coupled with a nano-, ultra-, or microfiltration membrane. The MR aims to integrate catalytic conversion, product separation or concentration, catalyst retention, and recuperation in a same operation. There are three types of MR (direct contact, diffusion contact, and interfacial contact). This work addresses sucrose hydrolysis and glucose oxidation by invertase and glucose oxidase (GO), respectively. The MR operated in batch, fed-batch (linear or exponential decreasing feeding), or continuous mode. The best yields (sucrose 100% and glucose 72%) occur in fed-batch operated in linear decreasing mode. Moreover, multi-enzyme (invertase, GO, and catalase) sucrose/gluconic acid conversion conducted in MR operates in fed-batch and continuous modes and results in yields of 72% and 92%, respectively.

Keywords: Sucrose, glucose, membrane reactor, fed-batch, invertase, glucose oxidase.