Applications of purification reactions for minimizing reaction-generated enzyme poisoning.

A mathematical model has been employed to examine the interplay of reaction and mass transfer in immobilized enzyme systems involving reaction-generated enzyme poisions. Deactivation rates can be significantly reduced in some cases by catalyzing a purification reaction in which the poison is transformed into an innocuous substance. This conclusion in illustrated experimentally for reaction-generated H2O2 in a continuous-flow stirred slurry reactor containing glucose oxidase immobilized on activated carbon.