Process design of a continuous biotransformation with in situ product removal by cloud point extraction

Biotransformations may face obstacles such as product inhibition, product toxicity, or unfavourable reaction equilibria that prevent complete conversion. One way to tackle this is enzyme engineering, which has made tremendous progress in the recent past. Additonally, in situ product removal (ISPR) can pose an attractive complementary strategy.

The authors of this work have demonstrated concurrent enzymatic reaction and ISPR, referred to as 'extractive biocatalysis'. For the ISPR, the authors evaluated the use of aqueous micellar two-phase systems (AMTPS) for extractive purposes.

As model reaction, Penicillin G hydrolysis by CalB lipase was used to demonstrate continuous, heterogeneous extractive biocatalysis by means of cloud point extraction.

Highlights:

• Our SpinChem RBR was used during process development to determine Michaelis-Menten kinetics of the immobilized CalB.
• Also, the immobilized biocatalyst particles were easily re-used in stability experiments.