A fed-batch technique for 2-heptanone production by spores of Penicillium roquefortii

A fed-batch technique for the production of 2-heptanone from octanoic acid by Ca-alginate/Eudragit RL-entrapped spores of Penicillium roquefortii is presented. It involves the use of a pH-stat apparatus, the increase in pH arising due to the reaction being overcome by direct substrate addition. When the reaction is performed at pH 5.5, no true constant rate period can be achieved due to a gradual buffering of the medium connected with a decrease in the catalytic activity of the spores. At pH 6.5 the system exhibits high stability and the reaction rate remains constant for at least 300 h with a value of 0.975 mM/h and a substrate concentration close to 4 mM. The process used may be very useful in the study of long-term behaviour of biocatalysts when the medium is not renewed and when the reaction involves an ionic compound and a neutral one.