Analysis of the Michaelis-Menten Mechanism in an Immobilised Enzyme Reactor

We investigate the behaviour of a reaction described by Michaelis-Menten kinetics in an immobilised enzyme reactor (IER). The IER is treated as a well-stirred flow reactor, with the restriction that bounded and unbounded enzyme species are constrained to remain within the reaction vessel. Our aim is to identify the best operating conditions for the reactor. The cases in which an immobilised enzyme reactor is used to either reduce pollutant emissions or to synthesise a product are considered. For the former we deduce that the reactor should be operated using low flow rates whereas for the latter high flow rates are optimal. It is also shown that periodic behaviour is impossible.