Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.91, No.3, 432-440, 2013
Characterisation of biocatalysts immobilised in niobium-a new inorganic solid support
A new support for enzyme immobilisation, an alloy of niobium ore and graphite, was tested with: invertase from baker's yeast and inulinase from Aspergillus niger. The efficiency of immobilisation was about 30% for invertase and 72% for inulinase. The maximum activities values were observed for both enzymes at: pH 4.5, 50 degrees C and 500g/L of sucrose. The hydrolysis of inulin (5%w/v) by the free inulinase and invertase presented specific productivity of reducing sugars lower after immobilisation, about 15 and 1.5 times, respectively; with the hydrolysis of sucrose (50%w/v) the reductions observed were of 14 and 3.5 times, respectively. (c) 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering
Keywords:adsorption;fructosyltransferase;fructooligosaccharides;inulin hydrolysis;inulinase;invertase;niobium;transfructosylation