New Experimental Procedure for Monitoring Molecular Weight Breakdown during Enzymatic Degradation of Polygalacturonic Acid in Continuous Membrane Reactors

• Published in: Industrial & engineering chemistry research 2003-08, Vol.42 (17), p.3937-3942
• Main Authors: Gallifuoco, Alberto, Alfani, Francesco, Cantarella, Maria, Viparelli, Paolo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0888-5885; 1520-5045
• DOI: 10.1021/ie0210208

The enzymatic depolymerization of polygalacturonic acid was studied in a continuous stirred UF membrane reactor. Experimental data were obtained in different runs with varying amounts of biocatalyst from 0.25 to 1.35 mg. The residence time (1.7 h), temperature (25 °C), and membrane molecular weight cutoff (30 kDa) were kept constant. The time course of the oligomeric product concentration in the output solution was correlated with a model equation, that was originally developed for batch reactions and modified for the continuous system. A new experimental method was used to detect the instantaneous mean molecular weight. Evidence was obtained that the enzymatic breakdown was almost complete within 2−3 h from the startup of the bioreaction. The proposed method proved to be sufficiently accurate and easy to employ for rapid on-line control of the industrial bioprocess.