Chemical Engineering & Technology, Vol.17, No.2, 131-137, 1994
CONTINUOUS COMPUTER-CONTROLLED PRODUCTION OF FORMATE DEHYDROGENASE (FDH) AND ISOLATION ON A PILOT-SCALE
A continuous production process has been developed up to pilot scale (300 1) for FDH production with the methylotrophic yeast Candida boidinii. A high cell mass specific FDH activity (50 U/g) is achieved by process computer controlled supply of pure methanol to operate the reactor at an optimum methanol concentration of 10 g/l. The maximum FDH space-time yield achievable with this process control involves a residence time of 7 h. The FDH space-time yield (STY) and FDH concentration are a function of the oxygen transfer rate (OTR) of the fermenter (maximum STY = 255 U/(l h) at k(L)a = 870 1/h). For a reasonable compromise between high FDH space-time yield and high FDH concentration, an optimum residence time is adjustable by regulating the supply of nutrient salt solution in relation to the OTR of the fermenter. On a pilot scale (200 1 continuously stirred tank reactor) roughly 4 million U of FDH were produced within 10 days at a residence time of 14.3 h. Isolation of intracellular FDH enzyme was performed using extraction with an aqueous two-phase. system (PEG/K2HPO4). A technical product quality of 1.2 U/mg FDH was achieved without any chromatographic purification step.