Development of an Experimental Setup and a Validated Model for a Highly Integrated Biocatalytic Process

Area of Science:

• Biocatalysis and Biochemical Engineering
• Process Systems Engineering
• Mathematical Modeling

Background:

• Integrated biocatalytic processes offer intensified biotransformations.
• Enzyme membrane reactors (EMR) and reactive extraction centrifuges (REC) are key unit operations for process intensification.
• Accurate mathematical models are crucial for designing, scaling, and optimizing complex biocatalytic systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a mathematical model for a highly integrated biocatalytic process.
• To capture the kinetics of a multienzymatic cascade and the dynamics of integrated unit operations.
• To demonstrate the model's predictive capability for process design and optimization.

Main Methods:

• Laboratory-scale experiments were performed to gather kinetic and thermodynamic data.
• A multienzymatic cascade with three parallel and sequential steps was implemented in a miniplant.
• The process model was developed incorporating reaction kinetics and unit operation dynamics, then validated against miniplant data.

Main Results:

• The developed mathematical model accurately represents the integrated biocatalytic process.
• Good agreement was observed between model predictions and experimental data from the miniplant.
• The model demonstrates significant predictive power for process behavior.

Conclusions:

• Model-based development is essential for advancing sustainable and efficient biocatalytic processes.
• The validated model can be used for future process design, scale-up, and optimization.
• This work highlights the successful integration of EMR and REC for intensified biotransformations.