Abstract
Effect of the cascade operation of enzymes in packed bed immobilized enzyme reactors is studied. Theoretical calculations reveal that conversions for first-order reactions or for Michaelis-Menten type reactions increase extensively by applying the cascade operation to enzymes suffering from first-order deactivation. Also, considerable reduction of enzyme consumption can be expected; that is, mean residence time of enzymes in reactors can be increased by a factor of two by use of the cascade operation, maintaining the same conversion.
Experimental studies of hydrogenation of pyruvate to lactate, which is catalyzed by lactate dehydrogenase, in connection with 4-stage and 2-stage cascade operations agreed with the above expectations.
