Columnar Reactor Immobilized Enzyme Carrier Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high cost and limited single-use efficiency of liquid enzymes in chemical production, along with the challenges of product purification and environmental impact, necessitate the development of a more effective and sustainable immobilization technology for enzyme and cell applications.
Innovation Solution
An immobilized reaction device with a columnar reactor design, utilizing a carrier with open pores and a tight integration of enzyme or cells within the reactor, allowing for efficient fluid flow and reduced pressure differences, enabling high-flow rate reactions while maintaining enzyme stability and reducing operational costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If liquid enzyme is used for chemical production, then the production process is simple, but the enzyme cost is high and the enzyme can only be used once
Solution Approach 1:
The enzyme is extracted from its liquid state and immobilized onto a solid carrier material. This extraction of the enzyme from free solution and attachment to a support structure enables the enzyme to be retained and reused multiple times, directly addressing the single-use limitation of liquid enzymes while maintaining catalytic function
Solution Approach 2:
A porous carrier material is used to immobilize the enzyme. The porous structure provides large surface area for enzyme attachment while allowing substrate and product molecules to diffuse in and out, maintaining catalytic activity while enabling enzyme reuse across multiple production cycles
2Ease of manufacture
If liquid enzyme is used, then the production process is straightforward, but product purification becomes difficult due to enzyme residue
Solution Approach 1:
By extracting the enzyme from liquid form and immobilizing it on a solid carrier, the enzyme becomes a separable solid phase. This allows easy separation of the immobilized enzyme from the liquid reaction mixture containing the product, significantly simplifying product purification while eliminating enzyme residue contamination
Solution Approach 2:
The system is segmented into distinct phases: the immobilized enzyme on solid carrier and the liquid reaction mixture. This spatial segmentation allows the enzyme to remain stationary while substrates and products flow through, enabling simple separation and purification without complex processing steps
3Quantity of substance
If immobilized enzyme is used, then enzyme reuse is enabled, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The use of porous carrier materials provides a ready-made three-dimensional structure that facilitates enzyme immobilization while naturally enabling fluid flow through the material. This reduces the need for complex reactor designs as the porous structure itself manages both enzyme retention and substrate access
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes fluid flow dynamics to pass substrates and products through the immobilized enzyme bed. By relying on hydraulic flow rather than mechanical moving parts, the system achieves enzyme reuse without requiring complex mechanical structures, maintaining relative simplicity while enabling continuous operation
4Productivity
If high flow rate is used in the reactor, then production efficiency increases, but pressure difference becomes too high
Solution Approach 1:
The porous carrier material provides a three-dimensional network that distributes fluid flow throughout the reactor volume. This distributed flow path reduces localized pressure drops and allows higher overall flow rates to be achieved while maintaining acceptable pressure differences across the reactor
Solution Approach 2:
The porous structure transforms the flow path from a potentially linear or confined path to a three-dimensional distributed network. This dimensional expansion of the flow path provides multiple parallel routes for fluid passage, reducing resistance and pressure difference while maintaining high productivity
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
The solution enables efficient and sustainable industrial-scale production by ensuring maximum contact between the reaction fluid and immobilized enzymes or cells, reducing pressure on the enzymes, and minimizing waste, thus lowering production costs and environmental impact.
Implementation Method 1
the carrier has natural water wetting rate of at least 0.2 mm/s
Implementation Method 2
the carrier is a porous organic foam material with open pores
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an immobilized reaction device and a method for carrying out reaction by utilizing the immobilization technology. The immobilized reaction device includes a columnar reactor with an inlet and an outlet. The reactor is provided with an interior cavity which is defined by a top portion and a bottom portion opposite to each other, and a side wall connecting the top portion and the bottom portion.