Analysis of the operational strategies for the enzymatic hydrolysis of food proteins in batch reactor

The aim of this work was to validate a mathematical model and evaluate hydrolysis of salmon muscle proteins by Alcalase in batch reactor. The inhibition constants were correlated with conversion and temperature thus improving dramatically the agreement between model predictions and experimental hydrolysis time courses. The standard operation in batch reactor consisting in pre-heating, isothermal stage and inactivation of enzyme was evaluated through simulation of different operational strategies based on increasing temperature gradients. Operational conditions were 7.5%(w/w) protein, 1 g/l Alcalase and different temperatures from 50 °C to 73 °C. The optimal temperature for the standard process was 68 °C with a processing time of 41 min. Different operational strategies, included temperature profiles, resulted in longer operation times. The standard process was the best reactor performance due to the maximization of the enzyme efficiency.