CE-7 Enzyme Perhydrolysis for Stable Peracid Production
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing peracids using enzyme catalysts do not achieve high enough concentrations for effective disinfection and bleaching applications, and chemical production methods suffer from issues like odor, instability, and strong acidity.
Innovation Solution
Enzymes belonging to the CE-7 family, such as cephalosporin C deacetylases and acetyl xylan esterases, are used to catalyze the conversion of carboxylic acid esters into peracids using hydrogen peroxide, allowing for high concentration production without the need for high carboxylic acid concentrations and stable pH ranges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If chemical production method using strong inorganic acid catalyst is used, then peracid production speed is fast, but formulation becomes strongly acidic and peracid stability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an enzyme catalyst as an intermediary substance that mediates the reaction between carboxylic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The enzyme acts as a biological mediator that enables peracid formation without requiring strong inorganic acid catalysts, thus avoiding the formation of strongly acidic formulations while maintaining fast reaction kinetics. The enzyme provides an alternative catalytic pathway that resolves the contradiction between production speed and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the catalytic parameter from strong inorganic acid to enzyme catalyst, fundamentally altering the reaction conditions. This parameter change allows the system to achieve fast peracid production through enzymatic catalysis while maintaining neutral or near-neutral pH conditions, thereby preserving peracid stability in the formulation without sacrificing productivity.
2Productivity
If excess concentration of carboxylic acid is used to favor peracid production, then peracid yield increases, but undesirable odor occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The enzyme catalyst serves as an intermediary that enables high peracid yield through alternative reaction pathways. Instead of requiring excess carboxylic acid to drive the equilibrium toward peracid formation, the enzyme provides catalytic acceleration that achieves high yields at lower, non-odorous substrate concentrations. The enzyme mediates the reaction efficiency, decoupling yield from excessive reagent concentration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the chemical equilibrium-driven system (requiring excess carboxylic acid) with an enzyme-catalyzed kinetic system. The enzymatic mechanism substitutes the thermodynamic approach with a kinetically controlled pathway that achieves high peracid yields without needing excess carboxylic acid, thereby eliminating the odor problem while maintaining high productivity.
3Stability of the object's composition
If enzyme catalyst is used instead of strong acid catalyst, then peracid stability improves and formulation pH becomes milder, but peracid production concentration is insufficient for effective disinfection and bleaching
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes multiple parameters including enzyme concentration, substrate concentration, temperature, and reaction time to maximize peracid production. By adjusting these parameters, the system achieves both high peracid concentration (suitable for disinfection and bleaching) and high stability through enzymatic catalysis. The parameter optimization enables simultaneous achievement of contradictory goals: high concentration and high stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs dynamic control of the enzymatic reaction conditions, including staged addition of substrates, temperature control during reaction progression, and optimization of enzyme substrate ratios. These dynamic adjustments enable the system to achieve peak peracid concentrations suitable for disinfection applications while maintaining the stability benefits of enzymatic catalysis throughout the process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This process efficiently generates peracids at concentrations suitable for disinfection and bleaching, avoiding the drawbacks of chemical production methods by using enzyme-catalyzed perhydrolysis with CE-7 enzymes, which are stable across a broad pH range and require lower substrate concentrations.
Implementation Method 1
a process is provided to produce peracids using the perhydrolysis activity of enzymes identified structurally as belonging to the CE-7 family of carbohydrate esterases
Implementation Method 2
The enzymatic process produces percarboxylic acids from carboxylic acid ester substrates
Data Source
AI summary
A process is provided for producing peroxycarboxylic acids from carboxylic acid esters. More specifically, carboxylic acid esters are reacted with an inorganic peroxide, such as hydrogen peroxide, in the presence of an enzyme catalyst having perhydrolysis activity. The present perhydrolase catalysts are classified as members of the carbohydrate esterase family 7 (CE-7) based on the conserved structural features. Further, disinfectant formulations comprising the peracids produced by the processes described herein are provided.