3The Spinning Cloth Disc Reactor (SCDR) is an innovative enzyme reaction intensification 4 technology. Based on spinning disc technology, the SCDR uses centrifugal forces to allow an 5 even spread of a thin film across a spinning horizontal disc which holds a cloth with 6 immobilized enzyme. This geometry promotes accelerated reactions due to high mass transfer 7 rates and rapid mixing. Here, the SCDR has been benchmarked against a conventional Batch 8 Stirred Tank Reactor (BSTR) using tributyrin emulsion hydrolysis as a model reaction and 9 lipase immobilized on woolen cloth as the biocatalyst. Reaction intensification has been 10 shown to occur: the conversion in the SCDR was significantly higher than that in a 11 conventional BSTR under comparable conditions. Spinning speed and flow rate control 12 reaction rate and conversion: conversion increased nearly 7% on average as the flow rate rose 13 from 2 to 5 mL s -1 and the highest conversion (72.1%) occurred at 400 rpm. A Ping Pong Bi 14 Bi kinetic model fitted reaction progress data well. The immobilized lipase showed excellent 15 stability to repeat reactions in the SCDR: 80% of the original activity was retained after 15 16 consecutive runs. The robustness of the SCDR to industrially relevant feeds was also 17 demonstrated through successful hydrolysis of different vegetable oils at reaction rates 5 18 times higher than other reactors in the literature. Overall, the above results indicate that the 19 SCDR is an innovative, superior and robust technology for enhancing enzyme reactions, 20 taking enzyme reactors beyond the current state-of-the-art. This concept can readily be 21 extended to other enzyme-catalyzed reactions, where enhanced mass transfer and enzyme 22 stability is needed. 23 Keywords: spinning cloth disc reactor; lipase immobilization; woolen cloth support; oil 24 hydrolysis; enzyme reaction intensification.25 2 1. Introduction 2 Enzymatic hydrolysis of triglycerides into acids by lipase is an environmentally sustainable 3 alternative to chemical hydrolysis and can be used in many important industrial applications 4 (such as in the fat and oleochemical industry, the dairy industry and wastewater treatment), 5 due to the potential energy savings and alleviation of thermal deactivation of unsaturated 6 fatty acids through lowering the reaction temperature [1, 2]. One significant characteristic of 7 lipase in this reaction is its activation at the oil-water interface; therefore such hydrolysis 8 reactions catalyzed by lipase are more effective in oil/water emulsions [3]. In practical 9 applications, immobilized lipase is more favorable due to the prominent advantages over its 10 free form: enhanced stability, ease of enzyme recovery and reuse, simplified product 11 separation. Thus, immobilized enzyme reactors have been widely studied for industrial 12 processes [4] . Batch stirred tank reactors (BSTR) are the most commonly used reactors for 13 enzymatic processes, however this type of reactor suffer from a series of disadvantages, 14 including the ...