Enzyme reactor with knitted fabric made of poly(vinyl alcohol) superfine filaments

Various supports and bio-reactors have been proposed. Packed bed reactors with polymer material in granular shape are most often employed in both laboratory and industry. But they have a disadvantage related to an increase in pressure drop. We already developed filter paper composed of short cut pieces of superfine filaments (SFF). It shows high performance, but its hydrodynamic resistance increases when substrate solution passes through it. A new type of enzyme reactor equipped with knitted SFF has been proposed. In this reactor, substrate does not pass through the support but flows along the thin channel and parallel to the support. Therefore, it is able to maintain flow rate constant during a considerable period. The productivity of the reactor fairly increases by reducing the thickness of the channel because linear velocity increases with the reduction of the thickness and that contributes to the decrease in mass transfer resistance.