Analysis of the bond graph network model of membrane reactor for olive oil hydrolysis

The paper deals with a biphasic enzyme membrane reactor for hydrolysis of triglycerides. A model of the reactor has been created in the pervious paper according to network thermodynamics. This work presents simulations of the reactor performance at different limitations: kinetics of the chemical processes, diffusional permeabilities of the fatty acids and glycerides, rates of inhibition of the immobilised enzyme and concentration of the enzyme in a zone of the reaction. The features of the processes are discussed on the base of the calculated time courses of concentration of the particular reactants. The best productivities can be gained when the reactor performance is limited only by chemical kinetics of the consecutive triglycerides hydrolysis. The performance of such reactor exhibits the features typical for consecutive reactions, what can be exploited for production of di- and/or monoglycerides. In the process limited by diffusion of fatty acids and glycerides this is not possible. The performances of such processes depend on the enzyme concentration only to a definite upper value; higher concentrations do not enhance the overall productivity. It is possible to recognise the limiting effects of the actual process, simply by estimating of the evolution of the end products - their dependence on enzyme loading density and the ratio of glycerol to fatty acids concentration. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.