This newsletter showcases new research where our rotating bed reactors were used. The publications highlighted this time involve biocatalytic epoxidation, whole cells in alginate beads, and the application of an unspecific peroxygenase (UPO). As always, we welcome any suggestions of articles that could be featured in this newsletter series. Enjoy!
Researchers from Åbo Akademi University (Wikström et al.) performed epoxidation of oleic acid using a rotating bed reactor (RBR S2) containing the immobilized CalB; Novozym® 435. By continuously adding the hydrogen peroxide to the reactor (semi batch) the yield was improved over the direct batch operation.
Source: Wilhelm Wikström, Adriana Freites Aguilera, Pasi Tolvanen, Robert Lassfolk, Ananias Medina, Kari Eränen, and Tapio Salmi, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2023, 62, 9169−9187
These catalytically active cells tolerated saltwater conditions and achieved over 90% perillaldehyde conversion in 8 hours. Immobilization in alginate beads dramatically increased the stability; less than 20% activity was lost in one month instead of 50% in two days. The authors found that “the SpinChem® reactor is ideal to be used with cells immobilized in hydrogel beads as catalysts”.
Source: Silvia Donzella, Concetta Compagno, Francesco Molinari, Francesca Paradisi, and Martina Letizia, React. Chem. Eng., 2023, 8(12), pp. 2963-2966.
Finally, I want to mention an impressive work made with the unspecific peroxygenase (UPO) from Agrocybe aegerita. The authors worked with many toluene derivates as substrates, and eventually they scaled the process up to 120 mL using the RBR S2.
Source: Yutong Wang, Niklas Teetz, Dirk Holtmann, Miguel Alcalde, Jacob M. A. van Hengst, Xiaoxiao Liu, Mengfan Wang, Wei Qi, Wuyuan Zhang, and Frank Hollmann, ChemCatChem, 2023, 15(13), e202300645.
If any of these applications gave you some new ideas, or you would like to discuss something completely different, please get in touch with us. We love to develop ideas into processes!