Gas phase ethyl acetate production in a batch bioreactor

Abstract

Gas phase ethyl acetate production was studied using a porcine pancreatic lipase powder. It was observed that gaseous ethyl acetate was produced from gaseous ethanol and acetic acid. Accordingly, the effects of amount of lipase powder, gaseous ethanol and acetic acid concentrations, and reaction temperature on the performance of a batch bioreactor were investigated. Apparent Michaelis-Menten constant of ethanol was 0.163 [μM] and there was no inhibition by ethanol over the range investigated. As acetic acid concentration increased, ethyl acetate production increased to a maximum, then decreased, thus suggesting the inhibition effects by acetic acid. Over the reaction temperature of 25-55 °C, activation energy was calculated as 3.93 kcal/gmol and initial reaction rate was obtained as follows: r - 75.7 exp(-1975.7/T) [μM/mg of lipase/hr].