16] Immobilization of cells in carrageenan

Abstract

Publisher Summary There are advantages and disadvantages to the immobilization methods of microbial cells, and the ideal general methods applicable to the immobilization of cells have not yet been developed. To develop versatile immobilization methods and techniques, this chapter discusses various immobilization methods. It describes immobilization by the induction of polymer gelation as the best approach, because in this case, an enzyme is not denatured during immobilization. As a result, several polymers that form gel lattice suitable for entrapping microbial cells have been found. Among the polymers tested, κ-carrageenan was the most suitable for the immobilization of microbial cells. The procedures for the immobilization of microbial cells with κ-carrageenan are also described. Advantages of the immobilization method using κ-carrageenan are that the immbolization can be performed under very mild conditions without the use of chemicals that destroy the enzyme activity of microbial cells. Another advantage of this method is that various shapes of immobilized cells can be easily tailor-made for particular application purposes.