By combining nature’s own reactions, Associate Professor Selin Kara from the Department of Engineering at Aarhus University aims to develop a fully green and sustainable production process for chemicals.
Selin Kara will use entirely natural enzymatic reactions to synthesize chemicals in a continuous flow: Imagine small tubes (around a few millilitres) into which you put one product in one end, and get a high-value product out from the other.
“The idea is to link photo-catalysis with bio-catalysis in miniaturized, tubular bioreactors operated with continuous flow. The system will be multi-phasic where the photobiocatalyst – an enzyme found in normal chestnut mushrooms – will be in a solid form and the reaction media will be liquid. Due to the low solubility of the substrate, also a second liquid phase is needed for bioprocess development. Overall, I will deal with a multi-parameter challenge,” says Selin Kara.
EurekAlert! by Aarhus University
