Simultaneous glucose production from cellulose and fouling reduction using a magnetic responsive membrane reactor with superparamagnetic nanoparticles carrying cellulolytic enzymes.

This work aimed at investigating simultaneous hydrolysis of cellulose and in-situ foulant degradation in a cellulose fed superparamagnetic biocatalytic membrane reactor (BMRSP). In this reactor, a dynamic layer of superparamagnetic bionanocomposites with immobilized cellulolytic enzymes were reversibly immobilized on superparamagnetic polymeric membrane using an external magnetic field. The formation of a dynamic layer of bionanocomposites on the membrane helped to prevent direct membrane-foulant interaction. Due to in-situ biocatalysis, there was limited filtration resistance. Simultaneous separation of the product helped to avoid enzyme product inhibition, achieve constant reaction rate over time and 50% higher enzyme efficiency than batch reactor. Stable enzyme immobilization and the ability to keep enzyme in the system for long period helped to achieve continuous productivity at very low enzyme but high solid loading, while also reducing the extent of membrane fouling. Hence, the BMRSP paves a path for sustainable production of bioethanol from the cheaply available lignocellulose.

Phosphotriesterase-Magnetic Nanoparticle Bioconjugates with Improved Enzyme Activity in a Biocatalytic Membrane Reactor.

The need to find alternative bioremediation solutions for organophosphate degradation pushed the research to develop technologies based on organophosphate degrading enzymes, such as phosphotriesterase. The use of free phosphotriesterase poses limits in terms of enzyme reuse, stability, and process development. The heterogenization of enzyme on a support and their use in bioreactors implemented by membranes seems a suitable strategy, thanks to the ability of membranes to compartmentalize, to govern mass transfer, and to provide a microenvironment with tuned physicochemical and structural properties. Usually, hydrophilic membranes are used since they easily guarantee the presence of water molecules needed for the enzyme catalytic activity. However, hydrophobic materials exhibit a larger shelf life and are preferred for the construction of filters and masks. Therefore, in this work, hydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) porous membranes were used to develop biocatalytic membrane reactors (BMR). The phosphotriesterase-like lactonase (PLL) enzyme ( SsoPox triple mutant from S. solfataricus) endowed with thermostable phosphotriesterase activity was used as model biocatalyst. The enzyme was covalently bound directly to the PVDF hydrophobic membrane or it was bound to magnetic nanoparticles and then positioned on the hydrophobic membrane surface by means of an external magnetic field. Investigation of kinetic properties of the two BMRs and the influence of immobilized enzyme amount revealed that the performance of the BMR was mostly dependent on the amount of enzyme and its distribution on the immobilization support. Magnetic nanocomposite mediated immobilization showed a much better performance, with an observed specific activity higher than 90% compared to grafting of the enzyme on the membrane. Even though the present work focused on phosphotriesterase, it can be easily translated to other classes of enzymes and related applications.