HERSIM: a microcomputer program designed to compute the limits of conversion for real homogeneous isothermal enzymic...

Area of Science:

• Chemical Engineering
• Biochemical Engineering
• Reaction Engineering

Background:

• Enzymatic reactors are crucial for biochemical processes.
• Accurate determination of substrate conversion is essential for process optimization.
• Modeling reactor performance requires understanding kinetic equations and mixing behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce HERSIM, a BASIC program for calculating substrate conversion in homogeneous isothermal enzymatic reactors.
• To provide a tool for investigating the effects of different kinetic equations on reactor performance.
• To compute the bounds of real conversion, specifically total segregation and maximum mixedness.

Main Methods:

• The HERSIM program utilizes tracer data from a Dirac impulse input.
• It requires input of kinetic constants for the specific reacting system.
• The program calculates conversion variation with reactor temperature based on user-defined limits.

Main Results:

• HERSIM computes the two extreme limits of real substrate conversion: total segregation and maximum mixedness.
• The program accurately calculates the variation of conversion with reactor temperature.
• It provides a quantitative assessment of substrate conversion for various kinetic models.

Conclusions:

• HERSIM is a valuable computational tool for researchers studying enzymatic reactors.
• The program facilitates the analysis of substrate conversion under different mixing conditions.
• It enables accurate prediction of reactor performance across a range of temperatures and kinetic parameters.