To effectively immobilize alkane-assimilating bacteria and produce methanol under a mild condition by immobilizing alkane-assimilating bacteria on a substrate having a high specific surface area.
This method for immobilizing alkane-assimilating bacteria is to immobilize alkane-assimilating bacteria such as methane-assimilating bacteria and the likes, which are thermophilic bacteria, to a substrate having electroconductivity and a high specific surface area such as carbon body, an oxygen-permeating film and the likes by a non-bonding immobilization method such as a gel immobilization method and the likes. It is preferable-to immobilize the methane-assimilating bacteria by fracturing microbe cells after adsorbing viable microbial cells of alkane-assimilating bacteria to the substrate having a high specific surface area to treat the immobilized bacteria or immobilize the methane-assimilating bacteria containing methane mono-oxigenase(MMO) and methanol dehydrogenase(MDH) to the substrate and resting MDH. It is preferable to produce methanol by feeding methane to the alkane-assimilating bacteria-immobilized body or an immobilized body of fractured product of alkane-assimilating bacteria.
MORITA HIROAKI
OKURA ICHIRO
