ANZIAM  J.  47 (2005), 173-184

Analysis of the Michaelis-Menten mechanism in an immobilised enzyme reactor

M. I. Nelson   School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics   University of Wollongong   Wollongong   NSW 2522 Australia     nelsonm@member.ams.org X. D. Chen   Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering   University of Auckland   New Zealand   and M. J. Sexton   Maritime Development   R1-3-C031   Russell Offices   ACT 2600   Australia

Abstract

We investigate the behaviour of a reaction described by Michaelis-Menten kinetics in an immobilised enzyme reactor (IER). The IER is treated as a well-stirred flow reactor, with the restriction that bounded and unbounded enzyme species are constrained to remain within the reaction vessel. Our aim is to identify the best operating conditions for the reactor. The cases in which an immobilised enzyme reactor is used to either reduce pollutant emissions or to synthesise a product are considered. For the former we deduce that the reactor should be operated using low flow rates whereas for the latter high flow rates are optimal. It is also shown that periodic behaviour is impossible.

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