(734e) Membrane Microbioreactor for Enzyme-Catalyzed Degradation of Pectin

A membrane bioreactor offers several advantages for process development of enzyme-catalyzed degradation of pectin [1]. With a membrane bioreactor, enzymes can be retained within the reactor thus reducing the operating cost of the system (reuse of enzymes) [1]. Furthermore, integration of the membrane separation with the reactor allows for continuous separation of small low-molecular inhibitory products from the reaction mixture ? a functionality that cannot be achieved with traditional batch reactors. This minimizes the effect of end product inhibition and consequently increases the reaction yield as well as reaction rates [1]. Nevertheless, when evaluating new enzymes for enzyme-catalyzed production processes, the costs related to obtaining a sufficient amount of enzyme forms a major constraint. This limitation becomes more pronounced in cases where a large amount of experimental data is required (e.g. screening of new enzyme processes). Microbioreactor technology offers the prospect of circumventing these limitations and the possibility to develop a miniaturized version of the membrane bioreactor. The fundamental idea underlying the concept of a microbioreactor is to fabricate a reactor with very small working volumes (typically less than 1 mL) that emulates all the basic features of a typical bench-scale membrane bioreactor whilst retaining the low cost and easy handling features of microtiter plate operations [2].

This work reports on the development of a continuous membrane microbioreactor for combined pectin degradation and separation. The work focuses on two aspects. First of all, the main technical challenges related to establishing the membrane microbioreactor are described, together with the solutions that were implemented. Secondly, experimental results obtained with the membrane microbioreactor will be presented, demonstrating the workability of the reactor.

REFERENCES [1] Pinelo, M., Jonsson,G., Meyer, A. S., Membrane technology for purification of enzymatically produced oligosaccharides: Molecular and operational features affecting performance, Separation and Purification Technology. (2009) 70. 1-11. [2] Schäpper, D., Zainal Alam, M. N. H., Szita, N., Lantz, A. E., Gernaey, K. V. Application of microbioreactors in fermentation process development: a review. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. (2009). 395. 679-695.