Use of porous glass fiber as a support for biocatalyst immobilization

Summary Porous glass fiber has a very high surface area and good mechanical properties that make it an excellent support for biocatalyst immobilization. By packing aligned glass fibers in a tubular reactor such that the fibers are all parallel to the axis of the tube, the resulting pressure drop is considerably smaller than for a similar bed of packed beads. The utility of this support was demonstrated by immobilizing -glucoamylase by silane-glutaraldehyde coupling, and measuring its activity toward converting maltose to glucose. Using optimized immobilization conditions, an enzyme loading of 1.5 mg protein perm² surface area was obtained, with an activity of 370 units/g glass at 50°C. The half-life of the immobilized glucoamylase was more than twice as long as that of the free enzyme.