Oxygen mass transfer intensification in an inner-loop rotor-stator reactor: Production of sodium gluconate as an example

• Published in: Chemical engineering and processing 2021-03, Vol.160, p.108290, Article 108290
• Main Authors: Wang, Xiao-Ting, Wen, Zhang-Nan, Luo, Yong, Sun, Bao-Chang, Shao, Yan-Yun, Chu, Guang-Wen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Glucose oxidase; Inner-loop rotor-stator reactor; Oxygen mass transfer; Process intensification
• ISSN: 0255-2701; 1873-3204
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cep.2020.108290

[Display omitted] •The RSR was adopted to improve the production of sodium gluconate.•The oxygen mass transfer process was enhanced by combining pin with single layer SSM.•The SG production rate of the RSR was 7 times higher than that of the STR. The biocatalytic oxidation exists widely in biochemical industry. However, the oxidation reaction rate is usually limited by oxygen mass transfer. In this work, an inner-loop rotor-stator reactor (IL-RSR) was employed as a promising reactor for the process intensification of oxygen mass transfer, aiming to match the rate of oxidation reaction. The oxygen mass transfer coefficient (kLa) of the IL-RSR was experimentally studied. Then, the biocatalytic oxidation of glucose to produce sodium gluconate (SG) was selected as an example of working system to evaluate biocatalytic oxidation performance of the IL-RSR. The results indicated that the experimental value of kLa was in the range of 0.00984∼0.02758 s−1 in the IL-RSR. The SG production rate was up to 6∼12 g/(L·h) in the IL-RSR, which was 7 times that in a stirred tank reactor (STR). IL-RSR shows potential prospects in the field of biocatalytic oxidations.