A GENERALIZED ANALYSIS OF INTERNAL DIFFUSION OF IMMOBILIZED ENZYME INMULTIENZYME REACTIONS

A study of the influence of diffusional limitations on the kinetic beh avior of consecutive immobilized enzymatic reactions is presented. The consecutive sequence of reactions takes place inside a permeable part icle and the system is analysed for the cases in which each enzyme cat alysed step in the reaction scheme follows Michaelis-Menten type kinet ics, with and without inhibition by its substrate or by its product an d with a reversible mechanism. The theoretical analysis uses the ortho gonal spline collocation method to obtain the effectiveness factors of the reaction sequence. It is shown that the reaction system exhibits the characteristics of either reaction control or diffusion control de pending on the operating conditions.