General model for artificial photosynthesis with capsule-immobilized enzyme

In this work, a general model for artificial photosynthesis with capsule-immobilized enzyme was established based on ordinary differential equations, and a solution sequence was developed to get the analytical solution of the model equations. A coenzymes decomposition mechanism was incorporated into the model to improve the prediction ability for dynamic behavior of the reaction process. Then we showed that, based on the proposed model and the solution method, the rate constants for the kinetics of both the photocatalytic reaction and the enzyme reaction and the mass transfer coefficient across the capsule wall can be obtained effectively by using process experimental data. Finally, based on the analysis using the proposed method, we found that the across-wall mass transfer coefficient of the capsule may determine the transitional time needed for the process to get into steady state, and the enzyme reaction may limit the enzyme-photocatalytic reaction processes.