Studies on a continuous recycle reactor for a lipase-catalysed processing of ricebran oil

The authors have developed a continuous recycle reactor which efficiently performs emulsion type enzymatic reactions. The reactor column is filled with immobilised lipase and the reactions are effected by pumping the pre-prepared oil-water emulsion through the bottom of the reactor. A part of the product was recycled back and this type of recycling greatly improves the productivity of fatty acid compared to continuous once-through reactor without recycling. The recycle reactor could be continuously run for 35 days without decrease in conversions. The performance of the reactor was interpreted by a model and the theoretical conversion was compared with the experimental data.List of Symbols F_AOmol/min feed rate - K_M g/l Michaelis constant - R recycle ratio - r₅mol/(ml · min) reaction rate - S₀ g/l initial substrate concentration - V_maxmol/(ml · min) maximum reaction velocity - V_R l void volume of the reactor - x_s fractional conversion - Standard deviation