Kinetics studies in a continuous steady state hollow fiber membrane enzyme reactor

Porous hollow cellulose fibers have been used to separate a nonflowing enzyme solution of alkaline phosphatase from a continuous flow of substrate. The porosity of the hollow fiber membrane allows the substrate and product to diffuse freely through the membrane while restricting the permeation of the enzyme. The resulting “immobilized” enzyme system has been shown to behave as a continuous reactor—converting p-nitrophenylphosphate to p-nitrophenol. By varying the concentrations, flow rate, etc., either diffusion or enzyme kinetics can be studied. The continual influx of product and removal of substrate at steady state allows the study of kinetics of relatively short half-life enzymes and unstable systems.