Continuous penicillin G hydrolysis in an electro-membrane reactor with immobilized penicillin G acylase.

Penicillin G (2%, w/v in phosphate buffer, pH 8) was hydrolysed in a flow-through, miniature electro-membrane reactor with the penicillin G acylase immobilized in 5% (w/v) polyacrylamide (diam. 10 mm, thickness 2.6 mm, enzyme activity 24 U ml(-1)). The conversion of penicillin G increased from 0.15 to almost 0.5 when the electric current applied to the reactor was changed from -600 to +600 A/m2 with a substrate residency of 1 h.