Facilitated mass transfer in a packed-bed immobilized-cell reactor by using an organic solvent as substrate reservoir

The production of propene oxide from propene and oxygen by non-growing cells entrapped in calcium alginate was used to study the behaviour of a packed-bed immobilized-cell reactor operated with an organic solvent as the substrate reservoir. As a result of the high solubility of propene in the solvent used, n-hexadecane, oxygen was considered to be the limiting substrate. Dilution of the biocatalyst bed with small glass particles appeared necessary to attain a high liquid/solid contacting efficiency between the hydrophilic gel particles and the hydrophobic solvent. The bed dilution had the advantage of avoiding bed compaction and reducing pressure drops. The use of an organic solvent as the transport medium prevented oxygen depletion along the length of the packed-bed reactor. This eliminated the need for a separate gas phase in the bioreactor. A mathematical reactor model was developed to describe the combined effects of contacting pattern and external and internal diffusion limitations on the instrinsic kinetics of the immobilized cells. Experiments with the packed-bed immobilized-cell reactor were performed using an aqueous solution or n-hexadecane as the reaction medium. Predicted oxygen conversions compared favourably to the observed values without the need for fitting factors.