Industrial Biotransformations

5
Basics of Bioreaction Engineering
Nagaraj N. Rao, Stephan Lütz, Karsten Seelbach, and Andreas Liese
A prerequisite for any successful industrial process is rational design and development,
taking into consideration both the technical and economic aspects. The goal of rational
process development is to maximize selectivity, yield, chemical and enantiomeric purity
as well as profitability, while trying to minimize consumption of the catalyst, energy, raw
materials and solvents. To this end, detailed information about the characteristics of the
biocatalyst, of the biotransformation reaction taking place and of the bioreactor in which
this occurs is necessary (Fig. 5.1).
Process Development Aims
• selectivity,
• yield,
• purity,
• catalyst consumption,
• STY,
• environmental aspects
Fig. 5.1 Rational process design.
Reactor Characteristics
• mass balance
• energy balance
• STY
Catalyst Characteristics
• activity
• stability
- thermal
- mechanical
- chemical
• immobilization
Reaction Characteristics
A B + C
D
• buffer/solvents
• pH
• T
Process
• Batch/Fed-Batch
• Continuous Mode
• DSP
In this chapter, some fundamental aspects of reaction engineering, including definitions,
kinetics, basic reactor types, immobilization and scaling-up are discussed from the
point of view of understanding the data presented in Chapter 6: Biotransformations on
an Industrial Scale.
Industrial Biotransformations. Andreas Liese, Karsten Seelbach, Christian Wandrey (Eds.)
Copyright © 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
ISBN: 3-527-31001-0
115