Online Measurement of Oxygen-Dependent Enzyme Reaction Kinetics.

As the application of biocatalysis to complement conventional chemical and catalytic approaches continues to expand, an increasing number of reactions involve poorly water-soluble substrates. At required industrial concentrations necessary for industrial implementation, this frequently leads to heterogeneous reaction mixtures composed of multiple phases. Such systems are challenging to sample, and therefore, it is problematic to measure representative component concentrations. Herein, an online method for following the progress of oxygen-dependent reactions through accurate measurement of the oxygen mass balance in the gas phase of a reactor is demonstrated and validated. The method was successfully validated and demonstrated by using two model reactions: firstly, the oxidation of glucose by glucose oxidase and, secondly, the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of macrocyclic ketones to lactones. Initial reaction rate constants and time-course progressions calculated from the oxygen mass balance were validated against conventional online methods of dissolved oxygen tension and pH titration measurements. A feasible operating window and the sensitivity to dynamic changes of reaction rates were established by controlling oxygen transfer through the operating parameters of the reactor. Such kinetic data forms the basis for reaction characterisation, from which bottlenecks may be made evident and directed improvement strategies can be identified and implemented.

Development of in situ product removal strategies in biocatalysis applying scaled-down unit operations.

An experimental platform based on scaled-down unit operations combined in a plug-and-play manner enables easy and highly flexible testing of advanced biocatalytic process options such as in situ product removal (ISPR) process strategies. In such a platform, it is possible to compartmentalize different process steps while operating it as a combined system, giving the possibility to test and characterize the performance of novel process concepts and biocatalysts with minimal influence of inhibitory products. Here the capabilities of performing process development by applying scaled-down unit operations are highlighted through a case study investigating the asymmetric synthesis of 1-methyl-3-phenylpropylamine (MPPA) using ω-transaminase, an enzyme in the sub-family of amino transferases (ATAs). An on-line HPLC system was applied to avoid manual sample handling and to semi-automatically characterize ω-transaminases in a scaled-down packed-bed reactor (PBR) module, showing MPPA as a strong inhibitor. To overcome the inhibition, a two-step liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) ISPR concept was tested using scaled-down unit operations combined in a plug-and-play manner. Through the tested ISPR concept, it was possible to continuously feed the main substrate benzylacetone (BA) and extract the main product MPPA throughout the reaction, thereby overcoming the challenges of low substrate solubility and product inhibition. The tested ISPR concept achieved a product concentration of 26.5 gMPPA · L-1 , a purity up to 70% gMPPA · gtot-1 and a recovery in the range of 80% mol · mol-1 of MPPA in 20 h, with the possibility to increase the concentration, purity, and recovery further. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 600-609. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Enzymatic pretreatment of low-grade oils for biodiesel production.

The alkaline process for making biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters, or FAME) is highly efficient at the transesterification of glycerides. However, its performance is poor when it comes to using oil that contain significant amounts of free fatty acids (FFA). The traditional approach to such feedstocks is to employ acid catalysis, which is slow and requires a large excess of methanol, or to evaporate FFA and convert that in a separate process. An attractive option would be to convert the FFA in oil feedstocks to FAME, before introducing it into the alkaline process. The high selectivity of enzyme catalysis makes it a suitable basis for such a pretreatment process. In this work, we present a characterization of the pretreatment of high-FFA rapeseed oil using immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (Novozym 435), focused on the impact of initial FFA and methanol concentration. Based on experimental results, we have identified limitations for the process in terms of FFA concentration in the feedstock and make suggestions for process operation. It was found that, using 5% catalyst and 4% methanol at 35°C, the FFA concentration could be reduced to 0.5% within an hour for feedstock containing up to 15% FFA. Further, the reaction was observed to be under kinetic control, in that the biocatalyst converts FFA (and FAME) at a much higher rate than glyceride substrates. There is thus, both a minimum and a maximum reaction time for the process to achieve the desired concentration of FFA. Finally, an assessment of process stability in a continuous packed bed system indicates that as much as 15 m(3) oil could potentially be pretreated by 1 kg of biocatalyst at the given process conditions.

Scale-up of industrial biodiesel production to 40 m(3) using a liquid lipase formulation.

In this work, we demonstrate the scale-up from an 80 L fed-batch scale to 40 m(3) along with the design of a 4 m(3) continuous process for enzymatic biodiesel production catalyzed by NS-40116 (a liquid formulation of a modified Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase). Based on the analysis of actual pilot plant data for the transesterification of used cooking oil and brown grease, we propose a method applying first order integral analysis to fed-batch data based on either the bound glycerol or free fatty acid content in the oil. This method greatly simplifies the modeling process and gives an indication of the effect of mixing at the various scales (80 L to 40 m(3) ) along with the prediction of the residence time needed to reach a desired conversion in a CSTR. Suitable process metrics reflecting commercial performance such as the reaction time, enzyme efficiency, and reactor productivity were evaluated for both the fed-batch and CSTR cases. Given similar operating conditions, the CSTR operation on average, has a reaction time which is 1.3 times greater than the fed-batch operation. We also showed how the process metrics can be used to quickly estimate the selling price of the enzyme. Assuming a biodiesel selling price of 0.6 USD/kg and a one-time use of the enzyme (0.1% (w/woil ) enzyme dosage); the enzyme can then be sold for 30 USD/kg which ensures that that the enzyme cost is not more than 5% of the biodiesel revenue. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 1719-1728. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Identification of critical parameters in liquid enzyme-catalyzed biodiesel production.

Callera™ Trans L, a liquid formulation of Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase, has recently shown great promise as a cost-efficient catalyst for methanolysis of triglyceride substrates, specifically in the BioFAME process. However, identifying the right combination of temperature and concentrations of catalyst, water and methanol to realize the full potential of the reaction system has remained a challenge. This study presents an investigation of the impact of temperature, enzyme and water concentration on the reaction, as well as the effect of methanol feed rate for the conversion of rapeseed oil in a fed-batch reaction system. It was observed that the reaction can be divided into two distinct parts. The first part of the reaction, during which primarily tri- and diglycerides are converted, proceeded at a high rate and thus required a high rate of methanol supply. The second part of the reaction, where the remaining di- and monoglycerides are converted, proceeded at a much lower rate. Consequently, it is necessary to reduce the methanol feed rate during the latter part of the reaction to avoid inhibition or even inactivation of the enzyme. Since the second part of the reaction occupied most of the 24-h reaction time, it was concluded that this is the part of the process where further development efforts should be targeted. This point was demonstrated by partially substituting the catalyst with a lipase with a different specificity, which enhanced the performance during the second phase of the reaction.

Biocatalytic polyester acrylation--process optimization and enzyme stability.

An OH-functional polyester has been acrylated via transesterification of ethyl acrylate, catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB) in two different preparations: Novozym 435 and immobilized on Accurel MP1000. The batch process resulted in incomplete acrylation as well as severe degradation of the polyester. A high degree of acrylation was achieved by optimization through the application of low pressure (15 kPa), continuous inflow of ethyl acrylate and continuous distillation to evaporate the by-product, ethanol. The enzyme preparations displayed good stability with half-lives of 180 and 324 h for Novozym 435 and CalB/MP1000, respectively. This translates into product yields of 3600 and 6200 times the weight of the catalyst, indicating that the enzyme will have a marginal impact on the total process cost.

Efficient enzymatic acrylation through transesterification at controlled water activity.

Enzymatic acrylation is a process of potentially strong interest to the chemical industry. Direct esterification involving acrylic acid is unfortunately rather slow, with inhibition phenomena appearing at high acid concentrations. In the present study the acrylation of 1-octanol catalyzed by immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (Novozym 435) was shown to be as much as an order of magnitude faster when ethyl acrylate served as the donor of the acrylic group. Water activity is a key parameter for optimizing the rate of ester synthesis. The optimum water activity for the esterification of octanol by acrylic acid was found to be 0.75, that for its esterification by propionic acid to be 0.45 and the transesterification involving ethyl acrylate to be fastest at a water activity of 0.3. The reasons for these differences in optimum water activity are discussed in terms of enzyme specificity, substrate solvation, and mass transfer effects.

Effects of acid concentration and solvent choice on enzymatic acrylation by Candida antarctica lipase B.

Lipase-mediated acrylation is an attractive alternative to more traditional chemical processes, since it provides specific catalysis under mild conditions. A detailed study of the effects of solvent choice and substrate concentrations on the acrylation of octanol by Candida antarctica lipase B (Novozym 435) is presented. Acrylic acid was found to have a pronounced inhibitory effect. Partial neutralisation of the acid substrate by addition of an organo-soluble base markedly altered the activity profile, indicating the inhibitory mechanism to be related to acid-base interactions. The concentration of acrylic acid to be employed was found to be important in the choice of an appropriate solvent. At low acrylic acid concentrations, the highest rates and conversions were obtained using hydrophobic solvents, whereas at higher acrylic acid concentrations more polar solvents were advantageous.

Real-time model based process monitoring of enzymatic biodiesel production.

In this contribution we extend our modelling work on the enzymatic production of biodiesel where we demonstrate the application of a Continuous-Discrete Extended Kalman Filter (a state estimator). The state estimator is used to correct for mismatch between the process data and the process model for Fed-batch production of biodiesel. For the three process runs investigated, using a single tuning parameter, qx = 2 × 10(-2) which represents the uncertainty in the process model, it was possible over the entire course of the reaction to reduce the overall mean and standard deviation of the error between the model and the process data for all of the five measured components (triglycerides, diglycerides, monoglycerides, fatty acid methyl esters, and free fatty acid). The most significant reduction for the three process runs, were for the monoglyceride and free fatty acid concentration. For those components, there was over a ten-fold decrease in the overall mean error for the state estimator prediction compared with the predictions from the pure model simulations. It is also shown that the state estimator can be used as a tool for detection of outliers in the measurement data. For the enzymatic biodiesel process, given the infrequent and sometimes uncertain measurements obtained we see the use of the Continuous-Discrete Extended Kalman Filter as a viable tool for real time process monitoring.

Mechanistic modeling of biodiesel production using a liquid lipase formulation.

In this article, a kinetic model for the enzymatic transesterification of rapeseed oil with methanol using Callera™ Trans L (a liquid formulation of a modified Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase) was developed from first principles. We base the model formulation on a Ping-Pong Bi-Bi mechanism. Methanol inhibition, along with the interfacial and bulk concentrations of the enzyme was also modeled. The model was developed to describe the effect of different oil compositions, as well as different water, enzyme, and methanol concentrations, which are relevant conditions needed for process evaluation, with respect to the industrial production of biodiesel. The developed kinetic model, coupled with a mass balance of the system, was fitted to and validated on experimental results for the fed-batch transesterification of rapeseed oil. The confidence intervals of the parameter estimates, along with the identifiability of the model parameters were presented. The predictive capability of the model was tested for a case using 0.5% (wt. Enzyme/wt. Oil), 0.5% (wt. Water /wt. Oil) and feeding 1.5 times the stoichiometric amount of methanol in total over 24 h. For this case, an optimized methanol feeding profile that constrains the amount of methanol in the reactor was computed and the predictions experimentally validated. Monte-Carlo simulations were then used to characterize the effect of the parameter uncertainty on the model outputs, giving a biodiesel yield, based on the mass of oil, of 90.8 ± 0.55 mass %.

A two-stage enzymatic ethanol-based biodiesel production in a packed bed reactor.

A two-stage enzymatic process for producing fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) in a packed bed reactor is reported. The process uses an experimental immobilized lipase (NS 88001) and Novozym 435 to catalyze transesterification (first stage) and esterification (second stage), respectively. Both stages were conducted in a simulated series of reactors by repeatedly passing the reaction mixture through a single reactor, with separation of the by-product glycerol and water between passes in the first and second stages, respectively. The second stage brought the major components of biodiesel to 'in-spec' levels according to the European biodiesel specifications for methanol-based biodiesel. The highest overall productivity achieved in the first stage was 2.52 kg FAEE(kg catalyst)⁻¹ h⁻¹ at a superficial velocity of 7.6 cm min⁻¹, close to the efficiency of a stirred tank reactor under similar conditions. The overall productivity of the proposed two-stage process was 1.56 kg FAEE(kg catalyst)⁻¹ h⁻¹. Based on this process model, the challenges of scale-up have been addressed and potential continuous process options have been proposed.

Chemo-enzymatic epoxidation-process options for improving biocatalytic productivity.

The reactor choice is crucial when designing a process where inactivation of the biocatalyst is a problem. The main bottleneck for the chemo-enzymatic epoxidation has been found to be enzyme inactivation by the hydrogen peroxide, H(2) O(2) , substrate. In the work reported here, the effect of reaction parameters on the reaction performance have been investigated and used to establish suitable operating strategies to minimize the inactivation of the enzyme, using rapeseed methyl ester (RME) as a substrate in a solvent-free system. The use of a controlled fed-batch reactor for maintaining H(2) O(2) concentration at 1.5 M resulted in increased productivity, up to 76 grams of product per gram of biocatalyst with higher retention of enzyme activity. Further investigation included a multistage design that separated the enzymatic reaction and the saturation of the RME substrate with H(2) O(2) into different vessels. This setup showed that the reaction rate as well as enzyme inactivation is strongly dependent on the H(2) O(2) concentration. A 20-fold improvement in enzymatic efficiency is required for reaching an economically feasible process. This will require a combination of enzyme modification and careful process design.