A computational method for determination of the mass-transfer coefficient in packed-bed immobilized enzyme reactors

A computational method was developed that determined the mass-transfer coefficient k(L) or the volumetric mass-transfer coefficient k(L) a in packed-bed immobilized enzyme (IME) reactors. To study the performance of this method, two experimental systems were considered where an enzyme was immobilized on a non-porous support surface (surface-IME system) or within a porous support (pore-IME system). The values of k(L) and k(L) a determined in these packed-bed IME reactor systems were successfully expressed in terms of the substrate concentration at the reactor inlet and the liquid flow rate. Furthermore, the correlations obtained for k(L) and k(L) a were used to calculate the unconverted fractions of substrate at the reactor outlet. Comparison showed that the calculated results were in satisfactory agreement with the experimental values.