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Application 1032

Rotating bed reactor for immobilized enzymatic reactions

In pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industries, traditional methods are burdened by unsustainable use of solvents and transition metal catalysts. The use of enzymes is pursued as an alternative, offering greener synthetic routes and better results due to improved specificity. However, enzymes are costly and reusing them for many cycles is practically a requirement for process economy. This essentially means that the enzymes must be immobilized on a solid support so that they can be separated from the product.

Legacy reactor technologies, such as the fixed bed reactor or stirred tank, are widely used as a first approach to deploying immobilized enzymes. Unfortunately they introduce new problems by their design. The fixed bed reactor with its associated pressure gradient can lead to problems with blockage of the reactor. The stirred tank quickly grinds the immobilized enzymes leading to catalyst losses and tedious filtration.

The rotating bed reactor (RBR) is a revolutionary technology specifically designed to tackle modern-day challenges in the production of pharmaceuticals and other valuable compounds. In an RBR the biocatalyst is protected from mechanical damage, and the reaction speed can be greatly increased without compromising the stability of the enzyme.

In this poster, we demonstrate the convenient reaction screening, process development and scale-up that is enabled by the rotating bed reactor. Reach out to SpinChem to discuss how we can help you realize your biocatalytic process.

Details

This poster was presented at BioTrans2019 - the 14th international symposium on biocatalysis and biotransformations, in Groningen, Netherlands, 7-11th of July, 2019.