A study of catalytic p-cyclodextrin carbonate membrane reactor performance in PNPA hydrolysis

A catalytic cyclodextrin membrane reactor system is a promising tool for the production of chemicals of potential interest. To investigate the application of membrane immobilized carbonate derivative beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) for the p-nitrophenylacetate (PNPA) hydrolysis, the effect of different average degree of beta-CD carbonate substitution (DS), the amount of immobilized beta-CD carbonate and operating conditions such as pH and temperature have been examined under a constant substrate concentration. The initial reaction rate as a function of immobilized beta-CD carbonate concentration resulted in an increase of the p-nitrophenol (PNP) production rate. A complete hydrolysis of PNPA was reached after 3 h of operation by using the beta-CD carbonate with DS equal to 7. These data suggest the conditions under which the beta-CD carbonate membrane reactor with 2.5 wt% to 7.5 wt% of beta-CD carbonate (DS 5 and 7) can operate with high productivity and low cost: a reaction temperature of 20 degrees C, a pH of 8.4, low permeation rate and transmembrane pressure.