sugar consumption profile in the ICRis presented in
Fig. 8. The sugar consumption trends of various glucose
concentrations were similar, with a sharp reduction of
substrate occurring within the first 3 h. A range of 55–
75% of the sugars was reduced within 3 h of retention
time. A 6 h of retention time indicated that this was the
most suitable time to achieve high sugar consumption. A
longer retention time was required for higher sugar
concentration of up to 150 g/l in the ICRco lumn (7 h)
shown in Fig. 11. The amount of cell immobilized with
calcium alginate was determined by the cell dry weight
of immobilized cells and the assumption that 98% of the
beads were considered to be loaded with active cells. The
beads measurements were carried out prior to loading in
the ICRcolumn.