Chemical Reaction Engineering to Understand Applied Kinetics in Free Enzyme Homogeneous Reactors

Chemical reaction engineering is interested in elucidating the reaction kinetics through the determination of the fundamental influencing variables. The understanding of enzyme kinetics is needed to implement the potential of enzymes to satisfy determined production targets and for the design of the reactor. The quantification of the enzyme kinetics is implemented by the elucidation and building of the kinetic model (it includes one or more kinetic equations). In the context of process development, the kinetic model is not only useful to identify feasibility and for optimizing reaction conditions but also, at an early stage of development it is very useful to anticipate implementation bottlenecks, and so guide reactor setup. In this chapter we describe theoretical and practical considerations to illustrate the methodological framework of kinetic analysis. We take as study cases four archetypal kinetic cases by using as example the hydrolysis of cellobiose catalyzed by a beta-glucosidase. We show the different experimental data that can be obtained by the monitoring of enzymatic reactions in different configuration of free enzyme homogeneous ideal reactors; we show step-by-step the visualization, treatment, and analysis of data to elucidate kinetic models and the procedure for the quantification of kinetic constants. Finally, the performance of different reactors is compared in the interplay with the enzyme kinetics. This book chapter aims at being useful for a broad multidisciplinary audience and different levels of academic development.