Valotta Alessia, Maier Manuel C, Soritz Sebastian, Pauritsch Magdalena, Koenig Michael, Brouczek Dominik, Schwentenwein Martin, Gruber-Woelfler Heidrun
Institute of Process and Particle Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.
CATalytic mechanisms and AppLications of OXidoreductases (CATALOX), Graz, Austria.
J Flow Chem. 2021;11(3):675-689. doi: 10.1007/s41981-021-00163-4. Epub 2021 Apr 29.
In recent years, 3D printing has emerged in the field of chemical engineering as a powerful manufacturing technique to rapidly design and produce tailor-made reaction equipment. In fact, reactors with complex internal geometries can be easily fabricated, optimized and interchanged in order to respond to precise process needs, such as improved mixing and increased surface area. These advantages make them interesting especially for catalytic applications, since customized structured bed reactors can be easily produced. 3D printing applications are not limited to reactor design, it is also possible to realize functional low cost alternatives to analytical equipment that can be used to increase the level of process understanding while keeping the investment costs low. In this work, in-house designed ceramic structured inserts printed via vat photopolymerization (VPP) are presented and characterized. The flow behavior inside these inserts was determined with residence time distribution (RTD) experiments enabled by in-house designed and 3D printed inline photometric flow cells. As a proof of concept, these structured inserts were fitted in an HPLC column to serve as solid inorganic supports for the immobilization of the enzyme Phenolic acid Decarboxylase (PAD), which catalyzes the decarboxylation of cinnamic acids. The conversion of coumaric acid to vinylphenol was chosen as a model system to prove the implementation of these engineered inserts in a continuous biocatalytic application with high product yield and process stability. The setup was further automated in order to quickly identify the optimum operating conditions via a Design of Experiments (DoE) approach. The use of a systematic optimization, together with the adaptability of 3D printed equipment to the process requirements, render the presented approach highly promising for a more feasible implementation of biocatalysts in continuous industrial processes. Graphical abstract.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41981-021-00163-4.
近年来，3D打印作为一种强大的制造技术出现在化学工程领域，用于快速设计和生产定制的反应设备。事实上，具有复杂内部几何形状的反应器可以很容易地制造、优化和互换，以满足精确的工艺需求，如改善混合和增加表面积。这些优点使它们在催化应用中特别有吸引力，因为可以很容易地生产定制的结构化床反应器。3D打印应用不仅限于反应器设计，还可以实现功能低成本的分析设备替代品，可用于提高工艺理解水平，同时保持投资成本较低。在这项工作中，展示并表征了通过立体光刻聚合（VPP）打印的内部设计的陶瓷结构化插件。这些插件内部的流动行为通过内部设计和3D打印的在线光度流动池进行的停留时间分布（RTD）实验来确定。作为概念验证，这些结构化插件被安装在HPLC柱中，用作固定化酶酚酸脱羧酶（PAD）的固体无机载体，该酶催化肉桂酸的脱羧反应。选择香豆酸向乙烯基苯酚的转化作为模型系统，以证明这些工程插件在具有高产品收率和工艺稳定性的连续生物催化应用中的实施。该装置进一步自动化，以便通过实验设计（DoE）方法快速确定最佳操作条件。系统优化的使用，以及3D打印设备对工艺要求的适应性，使得所提出的方法在连续工业过程中更可行地实施生物催化剂方面极具前景。图形摘要。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s41981-021-00163-4获取的补充材料。
