Scaling Up Biocatalysis Reactions in Flow Reactors

Abstract

Biocatalytic oxidase processes can benefit from improved mixing and mass transfer, as can all multiphase processes. Flow reactors are established for their mixing capabilities, but there are practical challenges in terms of slurry and gas/ liquid handling. The oxidase of the DL-amino acid was studied and scaled up in flow in a Coflore system and compared to batch processing conditions. The improved mass transfer under flow conditions resulted in a reduction in reaction time, enzyme consumption, and pressure drop.

The Impact of Recent Developments in Technologies which Enable the Increased Use of Biocatalysts

“…The productivity of oxidases can be limited by the rate of oxygen uptake, a problem which has been addressed by flow technology. [53] Biocatalysts used in combination with continuous flow technology has been recently reviewed by a number of groups. [54] Microreactors allow precise control of mixing and temperature, and their use, in conjunction with biocatalysts has been described.…”

Machine‐Assisted Organic Synthesis

“…Thereactor is aspecifically designed flow device based on the continuous tank reactor (CSTR) principle.Itfeatures areaction block mounted on al aterally shaking motor, with the block itself containing freely moving agitators.T he use of transverse mixing avoids the centrifugal separation problems associated with the conventional rotational mixing of materials of different densities.Another Coflore reactor, which uses tubes rather than cells,has been used to scale up biocatalytic oxidase processes. [77] In contrast to the transverse mode of operation of the above-described Coflore ACR, another interesting approach has been the development of the multijet oscillating disc microreactor (MJOD,F igure 18), ad evice specifically developed for flow chemistry on amilliscale. [78] TheMJOD is fitted with an adjustable amplitude and frequency oscillator that moves the multijet reactor tube of the disc assembly forward and backward in the longitudinal (axial) direction of the reactor, analogous to apiston engine with multiple piston heads on as ingle piston shaft.…”

Managing Hazardous Reactions and Compounds in Process Chemistry

“…Flow has been used to increase mass transfer in biphasic biotransformations that require oxygen (288).…”