BIOCHEMICAL ENGG

AND

BIOPROCESSES

COMPILED Notes

2012

Biochemical engineering is the process

engineering component of biotechnology and is

an emerging area of importance. It contributes

significantly to many economic activities of our

country such as agricultural productivity,

production of biologicals, antibiotics, bioenergy

and environmental protection through

biological waste water treatment and

bioremediation of contaminated solids or land.

Over the years India has developed strengths in

biotechnology in public sector institutions. The graduation

from Biotechnology Development Board to Department of

Biotechnology in late eighties was a decisive step to

address a wider canvas in biotechnology. In these years

DBT has emerged as a major force to direct biotechnology

developments in India. Further, the involvement of various

agencies dealing with this technology has further helped

in developing technology capability at various levels. The

size of the industry is estimated to have grown to $1.5 to

$2.5billion between 1999 and 2002.

The task of biochemical engineering

R & D is to integrate and develop the

new tools for the industrial applications.

Traditionally, bioprocessing activities

were called

• upstream,

• reaction and

• downstream processing, respectively,

are expected to become more

integrated.

PERIODS OF BIOPROCESSES

• Pre-1800: Early applications & speculation

• 1800-1900: Significant advances in basic

understanding of biosciences

• 1900-1953: Genetics

• 1953-1976: DNA research, science knowledge

explodes

• 1977 – present modern technology

Knowledge of Life sciences is needed for a chemical engineer who has

to manage bioprocesses as a team may be better off to solve process

problems….

Microbiology is a science that deals with the study of living organisms

that cannot be seen by the naked eye. These can be seen with the aid

of microscopes, which magnify objects.

Microbiology: Study of structures and activities of microorganisms.

• Form, Structure, Reproduction, Physiology, Metabolism and

Identification.

• Distribution in Nature

• Relationship to each other and to other living things.

• Beneficial and detrimental effects on humans, animals, plants.

• Physical and chemical changes they make in the environment

• Microorganisms are unicellular or consist of same kind of cells held

together.

• Higher Organisms have a hierarchy of organization: Cells > Tissues

> Organs > Organ systems > Organism.

BIOCHEMICAL REACTION ENGINEERING

Penicillin – Sorona –

High – Fructose corn syrup

•

Bioprocessing includes the bioreactor and a subsequent

section for product recovery. The particular separation

techniques useful for any given bioprocess depend not

only on the size, charge and solubility of the product, but

also on the size of the process and product value.

For example, various forms of gel filtration, gel

chromatography and ion exchanger are used to purify

highly valuable pharmaceutical biological compounds

such as hormones, antibiotics and enzymes.

The ultimate challenge is to select the best combination

of substrate, enzyme or organism, bioreactor and

separation of the specific product. Each separation

needed depends on initial broth characteristics such as

viscosity, product concentration, impurities and undesired

particulates, and final product concentration needed for

crystallization, concentrated liquid product or dried

powder. If the product stays inside the cells, the cells

must be ruptured, so freeing intracellular enzyme, after

which extraction or purification is performed to recover

the valuable product. The fermentation broth has to be

processed, and pass through several stages for

separation and purification. The product requires a

sequence of operations for high purification.

TEXT BOOKS.

1. M.L. Shuler and F. Kargi," Bio-process Engineering", 2nd Ed.,

Prentice Hall of India, N. Delhi, 2005

2 J.E. Bailey and D.F. Ollis," Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals",

2nd Edn., McGraw Hill, Publishing Co. New York., 1985.

3. P. Stanbury, A. Whitaker and S. J. Hall "Principles of Fermentation

Technology" 2nd Edn., Aditya Books (P) Ltd, N. Delhi.1997.

4. Biochemical Reaction Engineering, R. Lovitt and M. Jones, Chapter 5

in Chemical Engineering Vol 3, (third Edition), Richardson and Peacock,

1994, Asian Books (pvt) Ltd, N. Delhi.

5. Bioprocess Engineering: Systems Equipment and Facilities, Edited

by B.K.Lederson, N.A.D’elia and K.L.Nelson (1994), John Wiley and

Sons, N.Y.

Additional useful Reference books: Biosciences:

1. Fundamentals of biochemistry by J. L. Jain, S. Jain

and N. Jain [6th Ed.] S. Chand & Co, N. Delhi

2. Textbook of Biochemistry [Fourth Ed.], by Staunton-

Todd – Mason –Bruggen, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co

(Pvt) Ltd. N. Delhi.

3. Molecular Biology (Second Ed.) by David Freifelder,

Narosa Publishing House, N. Delhi.

Fundamentals of Biochemical Engineering, Rajiv Dutta,

2008, Springer, Ane Books India

Additional useful Reference books:

Biochemical Engineering:

1. Chemical Reaction Engineering, O. Levenspiel, Third Ed.

Part V, Biochemical Reaction Systems, pages 609 – 654,

chapters 27 to 30. Enzyme fermentation, Microbial

Fermentation, Substrate limiting fermentation, Product

limiting microbial limitation.

2. Biochemical Engineering, by Gummadi, Sathyanarayana

N. and Doble, Mukesh, Published by P H I, N. Delhi.

3. Biochemical Engineering: Principles and Concepts by

Inamdar and Syed Tanveer Ahamed. Published by P H I,

2007 New Delhi.

Bioprocess Engineering Principles, by Pauline M. Doran, 1995,

Elsevier Science & Technology Books

The primary aim of this book is to present the principles of bioprocess

engineering in a way that is accessible to biological scientists. It does not

seek to make biologists into bioprocess engineers, but to expose them to

engineering concepts and ways of thinking.

The chapters are organized around broad engineering sub-disciplines

such as mass and energy balances, fluid dynamics, transport phenomena

and reaction theory, rather than around particular applications of

bioprocessing. That the same fundamental engineering principle can be

readily applied to a variety of bioprocess industries is illustrated in the

worked examples and problems.

Govt. Depts. Supporting research in biotechnology in India