Solubilization and concentration of carbon dioxide: Novel spray reactors with immobilized carbonic anhydrase

Abstract

Novel spray reactors are described that employ immobilized biocatalyst (carbonic anhydrase), enabling concentration and solubilization of emitted CO(2) by allowing catalytic contact with water spray. The reactors were fed with simulated emission gas. The performance of the reactors was investigated with respect to operation variable: emission flow rate; gas composition in the emission stream; water flow rate; area-to-volume ratio of immobilized reactor core; and the enzyme load within the core. The reactors were also investigated for pressure drop and extractability of CO(2) from the emission with single vs. multiple reactors (of combined equal volume). The biotechnological process of solubilization and concentration of CO(2) from emission exhausts or streams occurring in the spray reactors could be coupled for further biochemical/chemical conversion of the concentrated CO(2).

Solubility of carbon dioxide in aqueous solutions of 2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propanediol

“…More investigations on this topic were further carried out by different research groups [3,[5][6][7][8]9,10] to promote CO 2 hydration into bicarbonate ions according to the ping-pong catalytic mechanism explained by Silverman and Lindskog [11]: CO 2 (g) CO 2 (aq) (1)…”

On carbon dioxide storage based on biomineralization strategies

“…As noted in Section 3, the formation of HCO 3 À is generally the slowest step in the transformation of CO 2 to CaCO 3 . In many studies concerning transformation of CO 2 to reduce CO 2 emissions, CA has been used to form HCO 3 À (Bond et al, 1999;Bhattacharya et al, 2004;Lee et al, 2008). The CA is classified as metalloenzymes because the active site of most carbonic anhydrases contains a zinc ion (http://en.wikipedia.org).…”

“…Sharma et al (2008) screened diverse groups of bacteria and found the best activity for CO 2 storage with a 29 kDa CA extracted from Enterobacter taylorae. Bhattacharya et al (2004) used a spray reactor coated with immobilized CA for CO 2 capture and storage. The reactor performance was investigated with respect to operational variables including emission flow rate, gas composition in the emission steam, water flow rate, area-to-volume ratio of immobilized reactor, and the amount of CA.…”

History of Industrial Biotransformations – Dreams and Realities

“…In order to make the bioprocess feasible the enzyme d-Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) was recently immobilized [106]. Also, the novel trickling spray reactor employing immobilized carbonic anhydrase, which enables concentration of CO 2 from the emission stream was developed [107] Carbonic anhydrase is one of the fastest enzymes that make fast mass transfer from gas phase to aqueous phase. The single onestep chemical process shown in Fig.…”