Industrial Biotransformations

Penicillin amidase
Escherichia coli
4) Process parameters
conversion: 98 %
yield: 86 % (in reaction: 97 %)
selectivity: > 99 %
chemical purity: 99 %
reactor type: repetitive batch
reactor volume: 3,000 L
capacity: 300 t · a –1
residence time: 1.5 h (average over 800 cycles; initial: 1 h)
space-time-yield: 445 g · L –1 ·d –1 (which is the average for a production campaign of 800
batch cycles)
down stream processing: extraction, crystallization (see remarks)
enzyme activity: 22 M U, corresponding to approx. 100 kg wet biocatalyst (27.5 kg of dry
Eupergit-C)
enzyme consumption: 345 U · kg –1 (6-APA)
start-up date: 1973
production site: Unifar, Turkey (and elsewhere)
company: Unifar, Turkey (and others)
5) Product application
● 6-APA is used as an intermediate for the manufacture of semi-synthetic penicillins.
6) Literature
● Cheetham, P. (1995) The application of enzymes in industry, in: Handbook of Enzyme Biotechnology
(Wiseman, A. ed.), pp. 493–498, Ellis Horwood, London
● Krämer, D., Boller, C. (1998) personal communication.
EC 3.5.1.11
● Matsumoto, K. (1993) Production of 6-APA, 7-ACA, and 7-ADCA by immobilized penicillin
and cephalosporin amidases, in: Industrial Application of Immobilized Biocatalysts (Tanaka,
A., Tosa, T., Kobayashi, T. eds.) pp. 67–88, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York
● Tramper, J. (1996) Chemical versus biochemical conversion: when and how to use biocatalysts,
Biotechnol. Bioeng. 52, 290–295
● Verweij, J., de Vroom, E., (1993) Industrial transformations of penicillins and cephalosporins,
Rec. Trav. Chim. Pays-Bas, 112, 66–81
390