 Introduction

 Biocatalyst
 Fermentation and Its Application
 Schematic Diagrams of Bioreators
 Industrial Application
 Biochemical Engineering: extension of chemical
engineering principles to systems using a biocatalyst to bring
about desired chemical transformation.

 Mainly deals with the design and construction of unit

processes that involve biological organisms or molecules.

 Its applications are used in the pharmaceutical, food

biotechnology, and water treatment industries.
Utilizes biological cells to perform catalytic
reactions on a substrate, called the media, to
produce one or more useful chemical species,
called the product. The reactor is often called a
continuous-stirred tank reactor (CSTR), a
fermentor.
 Cells are living organisms that require specific
conditions for growth, production.

 Cells grow in culture medium (nutrients)

 Bioproducts are often sensitive to external conditions

(T, pH).
Enzyme composed of polymers of amino acids, that
act as catalysts to regulate the speed of the many
chemical reactions.

e.g; the metabolism of living organisms, such as

digestion.
 Enzymes are large proteins that speed up chemical reactions. In their
globular structure, one or more polypeptide chains twist and fold,
bringing together a small number of amino acids to form the active
site, or the location on the enzyme where the substrate binds and the
reaction takes place.

 The enzyme itself is unaffected by the reaction.

 When the products have been released, the enzyme is ready to bind
with a new substrate.
 Additionally, a reactor may utilize only the proteins
that specifically catalyze desired reactions, called
enzymes.
Instead of growing biological cells and using them
as 'mini-reactors' to produce the desired product, one
can extract the necessary enzymes from the cell and
use them to catalytically synthesize the product.
 Metabolism (chemistry), inclusive term for the
chemical reactions by which the cells of an organism
transform energy.
 Anabolism, or constructive metabolism, is the process
of synthesis required for the growth of new cells and
the maintenance of all tissues.

 Catabolism, or destructive metabolism, is a continuous

process concerned with the production of the energy
required for all external and internal physical activity.
 A microorganism or microbe
is an organism that is so small
that it is microscopic
(invisible to the naked eye).

 Micro biology is the study of

these micro-organisms.
 Prokaryotes are unicellular
(in rare cases, multicellular) organisms without a nucleus.
The name prokaryote comes from the
Greek pros meaning before and
karyon meaning referring to the nucleus.

The difference between the structure of prokaryotes and

eukaryotes is so great that it is considered to be the most
important distinction among groups of organisms.

Most prokaryotes are bacteria.

 Prokaryotic cells are small & simple cells.

 They usually exist alone.

 There shape may be spherical, rod like or spiral. Their size

may be 0.5 to 3 mm.

 They grow rapidly.

 They adopt to environment and their rapid growth and

biochemical versatility makes it good choice for research
and chemical processing.
 Eukaryotes are organisms with complex cells, in
which the genetic material is organized into
membrane-bound nuclei.
The name comes from the Greek
eus or true and karyon referring to the nucleus.

 These are 1000 to 10000 times larger than

prokaryotics.
 All cells of higher organisms belong to this
family
 Mostly these are plant and animal cells
 These are more complex
 Fermentation is a process of chemical change caused by
organisms usually producing energy or heat.

 A processin which chemical changes are brought about in

an organic substrate through the action of enzymes
secreted by micro-organisms.
Fermentation typically refers to the fermentation of sugar to
alcohol using yeast, but other fermentation processes include
the making of yogurt, lactic acid, wine, vinegar, vitamins. The
science of fermentation is known as zymology.

Fermentation, a process in which microorganisms convert

complex organic molecules into simpler molecules, is used in
the production of cheese.
 Eqn 1 and 2
Anaerobic fermentation
Some micro organism do not require oxygen and
this type of fermentation is called anaerobic
fermentation.

Aerobic fermentation
Aerobic fermentation require the use of
substantial amounts of oxygen.
SOME COMMON TERMS…

Culture is the term given to microorganisms that are cultivated in the lab for the
purpose of studying them.

Medium is the term given to the combination of ingredients that will support
the growth and cultivation of microorganisms by providing all the essential
nutrients required for the growth in order to cultivate these microorganisms in
large numbers to study them.
Among the different kinds of microorganisms the two groups that can be grown
in cultures are bacteria and fungi.

Algae and protozoa require many different nutrients in minute quantities that are
difficult to anticipate and prepare in the lab.

Primary ingredients required by all living organisms include:

a carbon source, water, minerals, and a nitrogen source.
The ingredientsin a medium will affect the chemical nature
of the medium. This is important because organisms vary in
their requirement for different environments.

One such property is:

pH (which is a measure of the amount of hydrogen ions in a

particular medium).

This has to be monitored during the preparation of media

since this will influence the kind of organisms that are able to
grow in the medium.
 The pH of the medium will thus determine which
organisms are able to grow on the medium.

For example

 fungi prefer acidic media for their growth while

bacteria
 grow on neutral pH media.
The primary function of culture media is to be able to grow
particular organisms on/in them. It is important that these
media are devoid of any other living organisms.

This is possible through the process of sterilization

(a process by which all living organisms and their spore forms
are killed and the medium is made sterile)

Culture media are most commonly sterilized through the

process of autoclaving (using high temperatures that will kill
all living organisms under increased pressure for specified
periods of time – in an appliance called the autoclave)
Unit processes 12/16/2011 27
 Conversion
Photosynthesis Biomass processes Biofuels and Bioenergy Application

Heating
Heat
Wet biomass Anaerobic Biogas
C6H12O6 + 6O2

(organic waste, manure) fermentation H2, CH4

Electrical devices
Electricity
Gasification
Fuel gas
Solid biomass Combustion
(wood, straw) Pyrolysis
Pyrolytic oil
Hydrolysis

co2
Sugar and starch plants Hydrolysis Ethanol
Sugar
6CO2 + 6H2O

Butanol

Liquid biofuels
(sugar-cane, cereals) Extraction
fermentation

Transport
Oil crops and algae Crushing
Methyl ester
(sunflower, soybean) Pure Oil
Refining (biodiesel)
 Cellulose Hemicellulose Lignin

The carbohydrate that It consists of short, Majorly

is the principal highly branched chains noncarbohydrate,
constituent of wood of sugars. It contains polyphenolic structural
and other biomass and five-carbon sugars constituent of wood and
forms the structural (usually D-xylose and other native plant
framework of the wood L-arabinose) and six- material that encrusts
cells. It is a polymer of carbon sugars (D- the cell walls and
glucose with a galactose, D-glucose, cements the cells
repeating unit of and D-mannose) and together.
C6H10O5 strung uronic acid.
together by ß-
glycosidic linkages.
Biomass goes through a size-reduction step to make
it easier to handle and to make the ethanol
production process more efficient. For example,
agricultural residues go through a grinding process to
achieve a uniform particle size.
Hydrolysis is the chemical reaction that converts the
complex polysaccharides in the raw feedstock to
simple sugars. In the biomass-to-bioethanol process,
acids and enzymes are used to catalyze this reaction.
 Fermentation is a series of chemical reactions
that convert sugars to ethanol. The fermentation
reaction is caused by yeast or bacteria, which feed
on the sugars. Ethanol and carbon dioxide are
produced as the sugar is consumed.
The enzymes that are used to hydrolyze the cellulose
fraction of the biomass are grown in this step.
Alternatively the enzymes might be purchased from
commercial enzyme companies.
The glucose is converted to ethanol, through a
process called fermentation. Fermentation is a series
of chemical reactions that convert sugars to ethanol.
The fermentation reaction is caused by yeast or
bacteria, which feed on the sugars. As the sugars are
consumed, ethanol and carbon dioxide are produced.
The hemicellulose fraction of biomass is rich in
five-carbon sugars, which are also called
pentoses. Xylose is the most prevalent pentose
released by the hemicellulose hydrolysis
reaction. In this step, xylose is fermented using
Zymomonas mobilis.
The fermentation product from the glucose and pentose
fermentation is called ethanol broth. In this step the
ethanol is separated from the other components in the
broth. A final dehydration step removes any remaining
water from the ethanol.
Lignin and other byproducts of the biomass-to-ethanol
process can be used to produce the electricity required for
the ethanol production process. Burning lignin actually
creates more energy than needed and selling electricity
may help the process economics.