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The Influence of Dopants on the Effectiveness of Alginate Beads in Immobilized Cell Reactors

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Abstract

Zymomonas mobilis immobilized in doped calcium alginate (Ca-alginate) was successfully employed for the production of ethanol in an immobilized cell reactor. Polyethylene oxide and F127 dimethacrylate were evaluated as potential dopants for Ca-alginate beads to decrease lag time and increase initial ethanol yield. The influence of the type and concentration of the dopant on the effectiveness of the microbe immobilized in Ca-alginate beads to produce ethanol was studied, and results were compared to the widely used 2 % Ca-alginate with no dopants, which acted as control. Immobilized cell reactors that were operated using beads doped with 0.25 % polyethylene oxide (PEO) reached an ethanol yield of ∼70 % in 24 h, which was significantly higher than an ethanol yield of 25 % obtained for the control reactor operated using undoped Ca-alginate beads. This study shows that the use of water-soluble dopants can potentially reduce the lag phase and thus improve the initial production yield of immobilized cell reactors, likely due to an increase in porosity and diffusion rate of the doped beads.

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1159772.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, 1664 North Virginia St. MS0388, Reno, NV, 89557, USA

    Akira Nordmeier & Dev Chidambaram

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  1. Akira Nordmeier
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  2. Dev Chidambaram
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Correspondence to Dev Chidambaram.

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Nordmeier, A., Chidambaram, D. The Influence of Dopants on the Effectiveness of Alginate Beads in Immobilized Cell Reactors. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 178, 1503–1509 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-015-1963-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-015-1963-x

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