Biochemical Process Engineering

Description

Biochemical processes are relevant for sustainable engineering of materials, chemicals, food, pharmaceuticals, and regenerative medicine. The knowledge of biochemical processes is essential to tackle challenges related to climate change, human health, recycling, and creation of a sustainable future. In this course you will learn how biochemical processes can be used to create current and future bioproducts. We start by understanding of the structure and function of living cells.  Both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells will be covered.  The functional description of living cells is demonstrated by means of the synthesis and specific properties of the four important biomacromolecules in a cell: lipids, proteins, polysaccharides  and nucleic acids. After learning about cells, we will study the upstream operations involved in bioprocesses starting with DNA recombinant technology and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and revisiting basic concepts of bioprocess engineering covering mass and energy balances, mass and energy transfer and bioreactor engineering including homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions. Unit operations for down-streaming and the creative combination of operations to design bioprocesses for different bioproducts will be presented and discussed. Equipped with the knowledge about bioprocess, we will study bioproduct engineering starting with cell factories, followed by biorefineries, enzyme technology and pharmaceutical technology. Interactive lectures with presentations by students and invited lectures of industry and international top-level engineers will complement the course program and offer a unique opportunity to students to understand and master bioprocesses for a multitude of applications.