TETRALIN AND OXYGEN-TRANSFER IN THE LIQUID-IMPELLED LOOP REACTOR

During the bioconversion of tetralin in the liquid-impelled loop react or, oxygen and tetralin are transferred from the organic-solvent phase to the aqueous phase. Mass transfer of either tetralin or oxygen is l ikely to be the rate-limiting step in this bioconversion. In order to establish which of the two is limiting, the overall mass-transfer coef ficients (K(i,L)A) of both substrates were determined. Theoretical cal culations did not reveal large differences. Therefore both K(i,L)A's w ere experimentally determined as well. From the results it is conclude d that neither tetralin nor oxygen can be assigned to be the mass-tran sfer-limiting factor if tetralin is completely converted into CO2 and H2O. On the other hand, if tetralin is oxidized only partly (the aim o f our synthetic studies), it very likely is the limiting substrate and process control can thus be achieved by controlling the supply of thi s toxic compound.