Dispersion and mass transfer effects on the performance of an immobilized lipase packed bed reactor during the hydrolysis of rice bran oil

The performance of an immobilized packed bed reactor for the hydrolysis of rice bran oil has been investigated and can be well described by a dispersion model with an average standard deviation of 0.0388. Global mass transfer coefficients estimated using the model and experimental data ranged from 0.095-0.482 min^-1, depending on substrate flow rates. A dimensionless mass transfer correlation between the Sherwood number and the Reynolds number was obtained as NSh = 3.96×NRe^2.07.