Towards the CFD model of flow rate dependent enzyme-substrate reactions in nanoparticle filled flow microreactors

Measurable kinetic parameters of enzyme-substrate reactions in the presence of immobilized biocatalysts in flow microreactors show remarkable dependence on the substrate flow rate. This paper presents a computational model that operates with a flow rate dependent KM value. CFD simulations and actual measurements were carried out in a chip microreactor, investigating the chemical process of deamination of phenylalanine by the model enzyme PfXAL attached to the surface of magnetic nanoparticles, forming packed bed reactors in the microfluidic chip. The reactor geometry has been varied in order to examine the flow rate dependence of the reaction. Experimental results suggested a moderate flow rate dependence of the examined kinetic parameters. The volumetric product concentration distribution was calculated in the reactors by CFD simulations, created with the open source software OpenFOAM, to enable further optimizations of the chip structure, enabling the design of more reliable flow reactors.