Modeling glucose isomerization in a packed- bed reactor: A complete theoretical and numerical approach

Abstract

Immobilized enzymes are used in many applications in the food industry presently. Some researchers employ apparent kinetic parameters in immobilized enzyme reactor systems, which only apply to these specific case studies. To increase productivity in a packed bed reactor, it is vital to establish a thorough understanding of all the factors affecting the process, including axial dispersion, convective mass transport, intra-particle diffusive mass transfer, and kinetics. This paper discusses the packed-bed reactor's steady-state model of immobilized glucose isomerase. This model is based on a nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation containing nonlinear terms associated with the enzymatic reaction of Michaelis–Menten kinetics. Akbari-Ganji's method (AGM) and Taylors series with Pade's approximation method are used to calculate the species concentration and normalized current for all possible kinetic parameters and Thiele modulus. The saturated and unsaturated kinetics also have been investigated analytically. A significant agreement between the simulation results and the analytical expression of concentration is observed.