Effect of Agitation Speed for Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Tapioca Slurry Using Encapsulated Enzymes in an Enzyme Bioreactor

Abstract

Agitation speed is an important factor in the industrial application for the mixing efficiency in order to increase productivity. In this study, the effect of agitation speed was investigated in a stirred bioreactor for hydrolysis of tapioca slurry into glucose by using encapsulated enzymes within calcium alginate-clay (alg-clay) beads. The hydrolysis process was tested at various agitation speeds from 40 to 200 rpm. The stability of alg-clay beads was examined in term of morphology of beads, enzyme leaching behavior and enzymes activity. The morphology of the alg-clay beads was investigated by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). It was found that vigorous speed ruptured the beads structure. The result also showed that by increasing the agitation speed, the leakage of enzymes also increased. Therefore, it can be concluded that there was a strong correlation between the speed of agitation and the beads morphology. The optimum agitation speed which gave the highest amount of enzymes activity was 120 rpm.