Extractive bioconversions in aqueous two-phase systems

✍ Scribed by Gerben M Zijlstra; Cornelis D de Gooijer; Johannes Tramper

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 492 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0958-1669
• DOI: 10.1016/s0958-1669(98)80111-0

✦ Synopsis

Although extractive bioconversions in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) have been studied for over a decade, this has not yet resulted in widespread industrial application. The main reasons are the cost of the phase-forming polymers and the complexity of ATPS behavior. A number of recent developments may give a new impetus to this technology. First of all, the use of extractive bioconversions in ATPSs has recently been extended to high-value protein products, while in the meantime the development of low-cost ATPSs is ongoing. Furthermore, novel chromatographic methods enable the analysis of polymer and metabolite compositions in complex ATPS mixtures, and recently employed statistical experimental designs provide a tool for efficient data gathering, while they also reveal synergistic effects between process parameters. Together, these developments open the way towards improved modeling of partitioning behavior in ATPSs.