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MEE317-BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
LECTURE 1
Dr.A.Babu Ponnusami
Associate Professor
SCALE

Contact information:
Room no.: SMV 108p
Ph:
Ph: 9443691869
Email: ababuponnusami@vit.ac.in
 Syllabus
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MEE317 BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING LTPC: 3 0 0 3

Course Prerequisites MEE 225 Momentum Transfer

Objectives: The objectives of the subjects are to help the student to
understand
The overview of biotechnology;
The principles of cell and kinetics, bioreactor design,
sterilization, agitation and aeration;
How chemical engineering principles can be applied to
biological processes
Expected Outcome: Upon completion of this course students would
be able to
Understand and Apply Chemical Engineering Principles to
Design and Operation of Biological processes.
 Syllabus Contd
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Unit No. 1 Introduction to Biochemical Engineering Number of hours: 8

An overview of industrial biochemical processes with typical examples
comparing chemical and biochemical processes development and scope of
biochemical engineering as a discipline. Industrially important microbial
strains, their classification structure cellular genetics typical examples
of microbial synthesis of biologicals.

Unit No. 2 Enzymes & its Applications Number of hours: 9

Enzymes used in industry, medicine and food their classification with
typical examples of industrially important enzymes mechanism of
enzymatic reactions Michaelis Menten Kinetics enzymes inhibition
factors affecting the reaction rates industrial production, purification and
immobilization enzyme reactors with typical examples.
 Syllabus Contd
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Unit No. 3 Cell Growth Number of hours: 10

Typical growth characteristics of microbial cells factors affecting
growth Monod model modelling of batch and continuous cell growth
immobilized whole cells and their characteristics free cell and
immobilized cell rectors typical industrial examples transport in cells.
Unit No. 4 Transport Operation Number of hours: 10
Newtonian and non-Newtonian behaviour of broth agitation and mixing
power consumption Gas/liquid transport in cells transfer resistances
mass transfer coefficients & their role in scale up of equipment
enhancement of O2 transfer Heat transport in microbial systems Heat
transfer correlations Sterilization cycles; examples of heat addition &
removal during biological production.
 Syllabus Contd
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Unit No. 5 Bioreactors Number of hours: 9
Bioreactors: Batch and continuous types immobilized whole cell and
enzyme reactors. High performance bioreactors sterile and non-sterile
operations reactors in series with and without recycle. Design of
reactors and scale up with typical examples.
Downstream processes and effluent treatment: Different Unit operations
in down streaming with special reference to membrane separations,
extractive fermentation. Anaerobic and aerobic treatment of effluents
typical industrial examples for downstream processing and effluent
disposal.
Text Book & References
1. DG Rao Introduction to Biochemical Engineering, Tata McGraw Hill, New
Delhi, 2005.
2. JB Bailey and DF Ollis, Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals McGraw Hill,
New York, 1977.
3. A Aiba, AE Humphrey and NR Milli, Biochemical Engineering, Academic
Press, 1973.
 Evaluation
Type of Max. marks for which the Marks in previous
Evaluation exam is conducted column are converted to

CAT-I 50 marks 15 marks

CAT-II 50 marks 15 marks
3 Quizzes Each quiz will be conducted for 15 marks
a minimum of 10 marks (5 marks from each quiz)
Assignment In the form of a report, seminar, 5 marks
presentation, quiz, experiment,
GD, etc. as defined in the course
syllabus/ course plan
FAT 100 marks 50 marks

Total 100 marks

 Biology & Biotechnology
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Biology - Branch of science which deals with the study of the living
things.
Activities which are performed by the living system or living cell
include locomotion, growth, respiration, reproduction, metabolism.
Biotechnology It is the art of science of converting reactants into
useful products by the action of microorganisms and enzymes in the
areas of agriculture, food, medicine, pharmaceutical, environment .
Novel techniques in Biotechnology include recombinant DNA and
cell fusion.
Commercialization of these processes require need to design
effective bioreactor to cultivate the cells in the most optimum
conditions.
For commercialization Biochemical Engineering is one of the
important areas in biotechnology for above such processes.
 Applications of Biotechnology
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S.NO AREA PRODUCTS /APPLICATIONS
1 Pharmaceuticals Antibiotics, antigens, human growth hormones,
insulin, interferon, interleukins.
2 Animal agriculture Development of disease free, healthier high
yielding food animals.
3 Plant agriculture Development of plants with increased abilities of
photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation.
4 Specialty Amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, lipids,
chemicals biopolymers.
5 Environmental Mineral leaching, metal concentration, pollution
applications control, toxic waste degradation, enhanced oil
recovery.
6 Commodity Acetic acid, acetone, butanol, ethanol and other
chemicals products from biomass conversion processes.
7 Bioelectronics Biosensors, biochips.
 Definitions
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Bioprocessing:
Any process in which microbes or living organisms
play a vital role in getting transformation of the feed
into useful products is termed as bioprocessing.
Biochemical Processes:
"A process that uses living cells or biomolecules to
carry out a chemical transformation leading to the
production and ultimate recovery of valuable
products".
 Short History of Biochemical Processes
Ancient Uses of Microorganisms (Before 1800 A.D.)
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Caveman to Earliest Recorded History --- aging of meats, cheeses, and
alcoholic beverages.
Ancient Chinese and Japanese -- soy sauce from fermented beans.
Ancient Greeks-Produced wine as early as 7000BC
Ancient Egyptians (4000BC)-Baking Bread and during 2500 B.C. --
malting of barley and beer fermentation.
Mesopotamian - Brewing of wine and beer are established in 2000 B.C.
Columbus lands in North America to find the native peoples drink beer
made from corn.
Chinese use moldy soy bean curd to clear up skin infections (1000B.C.)
Central American native peoples use fungi to treat infected wounds.
Middle Ages experimenters learn how to improve the taste of wine,
bread, beer, and cheese.
Mankind did not know that these fermentation processes were being
carried out by microscopic forms of life.
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Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was an Italian physicist, chemist, and
a pioneer of electricity and power, who is credited as the inventor of the electrical
battery and the discoverer of methane.
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Historical artwork of John Dalton (1766-1844)

Dalton's main work was on his atomic theory, which based on his observations of the
behaviours of gases. Marsh gas (methane) is formed by rotting vegetation, and is
trapped under a bed of degrading matter. Disturbing the bed with a pole (as here)
releases some gas, which can be captured in a jar (lower right). Dalton proposed that
gases were made up of combinations of atoms, indivisible spheres, in different
quantities. He found that different elements' atoms weighed different amounts, but
those of one element were the same. This forms the basis of chemistry today.
 Old Science (1800-1940)
From the discovery of the role of microscopic life in fermentations to
the use of non-sterile fermentations in organic molecule synthesis.
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1803 -- A French scientist, L.J. Thenard, announces that yeast used

in wine making were alive and that they were responsible for the
formation of alcohol. His findings were rejected by supporters of
the conventional notion that fermentations were chemical
processes only.
1838 Schleiden and Schwann proposed cell theory.
1857 -- Louis Pasteur, another French Scientist, proves Thenard is
correct. Showed that certain diseases are caused by
microorganisms. Birth of modern Microbiology. Concludes that
certain microorganisms are destroyed by other microorganisms
and suggests that human disease could be cured by pitting microbe
against microbe.
 Old Science (1800-1940)
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1901 -- Rudolf Emmerich and Oscar Low, University of Munich,
isolate a primitive antibiotic, pyocyanase, from Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, a bacterium.
Several hundred patients were successfully treated, but quality
control was poor and pyocyanase was abandoned as too hazardous
1900 1940:
Production of bakers yeast in deep, aerated tanks.
World War I -- Chaim Weismann solves a serious British ammunition
problem by converting corn maize mash into acetone, which is used
in the manufacture of the explosive cordite.
1923 -- Pfizer opens the first commercial successful plant for citric
acid production from sugar.
1928 -- Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.
Simple organic molecules such as glycerol, lactic acid, and butanol
are fermented on an industrial scale by fermentations
 New Science (1940-late 1970s)
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Fermentations of complex organic molecules requiring sterile
conditions which protect the non-robust, highly selected
microbial strains from competition by other microorganisms
1940 -- Drs. Howard Flory and Ernst Chain (England) and three
American pharmaceutical companies (Merck, Pfizer, and Squibb)
mass produce penicillin for WW-II effort.
Pioria Illinois -- 1940's, government worker discovers a new
strain of Penicillium on a moldy cantaloupe which can produce
200 times more penicillin than Fleming's strain.
Selman A. Waksman of Rutgers University discovers a new
antibiotic, streptomycin, for the treatment of tuberculosis.
Fermentive syntheses of amino acids, vitamins, cortisone, nucleic
acids, polysaccharides, and enzymes.
 Era of Molecular Biology (late 1970s-Present)
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1973 Herbert Boyer (University of California, San Francisco) and

Stanley Cohen (Stanford University) establish recombinant DNA
technology

The discovery of recombinant DNA technology and the birth of

genetic engineering allows for the efficient production of
compounds not indigenous to the host microorganism.
 Biochemical Engineering -Introduction
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Application of engineering principles to conceive, design,
develop, operate processes and products based on biochemical
phenomena.
Bio Chemical Processes:
"A process that uses living cells or biomolecules to carry out
a chemical transformation leading to the production and ultimate
recovery of valuable products".
Biochemical Engineering:
It is a branch of Chemical Engineering or Biological
Engineering that mainly deals with the design and construction of
most processes that involve biological organism.
Biomolecular engineering:
Emphasis on the molecular basis biological phenomena influencing
broad range of industries
 Introduction (contd)
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Biochemical Engineering includes:

Basics of biology, overview of biotechnology, diversity of
microbial cells, cell constituents, chemicals for life.
Kinetics of enzyme catalysis, immobilized enzymes, microbial
growth kinetics, design analysis and stability of bioreactors.
Biological product synthesis and separation.
Fusion of biology and chemical engineering , utilizes the
techniques of the later to enhance products from biological
synthesis.
 Introduction (contd)
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Bioprocessing steps:
Process involving microbial cells, raw materials usually biomass
are treated and mixed with nutrients for cell growth.
Liquid mixture and medium are sterilized and introduced in to the
bioreactor/fermenter.
The reactor is equipped with agitators, baffles, air spargers and
sensing devices.
A pure strain of microorganism is introduced and the cells start to
multiply and reach maximum concentration.
The medium is now depleted with and fermentation is stopped.
The contents are then pumped out for product recovery and
purification in Batch or continuous process.
 Role of Biochemical Engineers
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Perhaps the most notable contribution the engineer

made was in the advancement of sterile techniques, or
the contamination free philosophy, in the design and
operation of the fermentation vessel and its associated
maze of piping
-Aiba et al.( 1965)
 Role of Biochemical Engineers (Contd)
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Bioreactor
P R E P A R A T IO N
O F B IO M A S S FOAM CONTROL pH CONTROL
In n o c u lu m S t a g e s A n tifo a m A d d itio n A c id -A lk a li A d d it io n

PRODUCT RECOVERY

C E L L S E P A R A T IO N
B IO R E A C T O R In tr a c e llu la r
p ro d u c t
E x tra c e llu la r
1 ). C E L L D IS T R U P T IO N p ro d u c t
2 ). P R O D U C T E X T R A C T IO N

F re e C e lls ,
Im m o b liz e d C e lls PRODUCT
or C O N C E N T R A T IO N
PROCESS
E n z y m e B io r e a c to r

PRODUCT
S E P A R A T IO N

P U R IF IC A T IO N

S T E R IL IZ A T IO N
D R Y IN G

R A W M A T E R IA S A ir F IN A L P R O D U C T
N u trie n ts a n d R e a c ta n ts
in A q u e o u s S o lu tio n
(m a y c o n ta in in s o lu b le
o rg a n ic a n d /o r in o rg a n ic
m a te r ia ls )
Role of Biochemical Engineers (Contd)
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Industrial Bioreactor
 Role of Biochemical Engineers (Contd)
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Process design and development:
Acquire knowledge of microbiology, biochemistry, molecular
biology, genetics etc to select a catalyst or to genetically modify
for large scale operations.
Know about the kinetics of reactions , physical and chemical
conditions affecting the kinetics, operating conditions influencing
the rate to design an effective bioreactor.
Develop reliable online sensing devices and ensure that the
processes are operated at the most economical points.
Implement various separation techniques for downstream
processing. Achieve maximum purity with minimum cost.
Develop novel techniques (at large scale) to separate biological
materials.
 Role of Biological Scientists
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Biochemical Engineers work with Biological Scientists

To obtain best biological catalyst for a desired process.

To create best possible environment for the catalyst.
To design and operate the bioreactors in the most efficient way.
To separate desired products from the reaction mixtures in the
most economical way.
Work in a team environment with chemists, biochemists,
microbiologists, and chemical engineers.
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Steps in the development of a new biochemical process and

role of professionals.
1.Identify a desired reaction or product (chemist, biochemist).
2.Identify key enzyme(s) or microorganism (biochemist,
microbiologist).
3.Process development (chemist, biochemist, microbiologist,
chemical engineer).
4.Design of bioreactor and recovery unit operations (chemical
engineer).
5.Metabolic Engineering: application of engineering analysis to
metabolic pathways within microorganisms.
 Biological Processes-Advantages:
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Mild reaction conditions
Room temperature
Atmospheric pressure

Fairly neutral medium

Specificity - An enzyme catalyst is highly specific and catalyses

only one or a small number of chemical reactions.
Effectiveness
Rate of enzyme catalysed reaction is usually much faster.

Small amount of enzyme is usually enough to produce desired

result.
 Biological Processes-Advantages (Contd)
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Renewable resources
Major raw material for bioprocess is biomass which provides
carbon skeleton and the energy required for synthesis of products.
Recombinant DNA technology
Development of recombinant DNA technology promises
enormous possibilities to improve biological processes

Disadvantages:
Complex product mixture
Dilute aqueous environment
Contamination
Variability