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Long-term biocatalyst performance via heuristic and rigorous modeling approaches

The experiments which are required to directly assess the operational stability of thermostable biocatalysts can be time-consuming, troublesome, and, in the context of industry, expensive. In the present work, we develop and validate two methods for quickly estimating the total turnover number (a useful indicator of lifetime productivity) of a biocatalyst for any desired operating temperature. The first method is a heuristic approach, built upon a complete mathematical derivation from first principles, in which the total turnover number can be calculated from two simple biochemical measurements. The second method relies on a single non-isothermal, continuous-mode experiment in conjunction with mathematical modeling to determine the intrinsic deactivation parameters of the biocatalyst. Both methods provide estimates of the total turnover number which are well within one order of magnitude of the values measured directly via isothermal aging tests and therefore are extremely valuable tools in terms of the amount of experimental time eliminated.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/37194
Date25 August 2010
CreatorsRogers, Thomas A.
PublisherGeorgia Institute of Technology
Source SetsGeorgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation

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