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Chapter 1 - Introduction Biotecnology
Chapter 1 - Introduction Biotecnology
Introduction
and other biologically active agents. In this sense, biocatalysts are not only
naturally or synthetically produced enzymes and biomolecules respectively
analogues but also cells or subcellular fractions from microorganisms and
from plant and animal tissues. The type of catalyst used to carry out a bio-
logical process delineates the individual technology: enzyme or (simple and
complex) fermentation technology or tissue culture with suspended or im-
mobilized catalysts. In addition to the production techniques, there is also a
group of sterilization technique used to inactivate or kill biological materials.
For historical reasons, precise separation of biotechnology from other fields
is often difficult. There is overlap among various areas, such as conventional
food technology and biotechnology (Fig. 1.1). The production of yogurt or
TECHNICAL
B lOP ROC E SSE S
--------
(BIOTECHNOLOGY and FOOD TECHNOLOGY)
Production .
Destructlon
of of
biological material biological material
J
'\ "'"
STERILIZATION-
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
FOOD BEVERAGE WASTE WATER-,WASTE- TISSUES-
PROCESSING INDUSTRY TECHNOLOGY CULTURE
e.g.yoghurt e.g. animal,plant
beer,wine cell s
t
t
, I •
I
t
I I
I
,I t + +
MICROBIAL REACTORS ENZYME
t REACTORS STERILIZERS
VAT
BARREL "jEHTER I
f
B lOR E C TOR S
FIGURE 1.1. Biological reactors and their areas of application for "taming" many
industrial-scale bioprocesses. (After Moser, 1978, 1981.)
1.1 Biotechnology: A Definition and Overview 3
PInJI{SS
IN
SElllrfJ
PRICE
t
BlnTEDffiIlXiY
t PHARMACEUT ICALS
1970
........,...
- PROIXJCTION SCALE
The first is that of nature itself. In the earth, -in organisms, and in water,
biological processes operate on their own. They are often first discovered when
human intervention disturbs them. This stage was, and is, the school in which
human beings learn through trial and error to reproduce the processes and
use them for their own ends. The protocols for doing this are strictly observed
and are often kept secret. This was, and is, the stage of the artist and crafts-
person in, for example, the making of beer, wine, and sauerkraut. In part, it
is still the foundation upon which modern technology builds to create complex
products. Modern technology goes beyond this foundation to ensure repro-
ducibility of products through quantitative methods. In the field of chemical
engineering, such reproducibility was accomplished several decades ago.
2. Developing completely new methods of production demands a new organi-
zation of scientific and technical work. In recent years the problems of raw
material supplies, energy, and the environment have posed new questions.
With processes based on biotechnology, previously unused or underused
natural sources of energy and raw materials can be used or used more
intensively, and disturbed ecological cycles can be stabilized (for example,
CO2 , sunlight, cellulose, waste materials, and the cycles of the self-cleaning
rivers).
Industrial use of biotechnology requires new technical knowledge, new
1.2 Bioprocess Technology 5
working methods, and valid principles of operation. The new processes extend
well beyond the framework of traditional technology in both complexity and
scale. Neither simple fermentation technology nor waste water treatment
technology, nor the technologies of food processing, pharmaceuticals, or water
purification, provide a model adequate to serve as the basis for organization
of the new types of production. Traditional technologies developed largely in
isolation; they were product oriented. The current existence within each field
of independent terms describing technical measures and quantities common
to them all is a sign of this product orientation.
To foster the rapid and reliable development of processes based on bio-
technology, and especially to foster new production methods applicable on a
usable scale, a more unified view is needed. The many similar biotechnical
methods used by all of the scientific disciplines represented and by all of the
industries involved must be placed on a more universal basis, both from neces-
sity and from consideration of the advantages of universality. The product-
oriented way of thinking should be woven into a "process-oriented" viewpoint
that unites processes having similar working principles (Dechema, 1974; A.
Moser, 1977; Ringpfeil, 1977). In the chemical industry, such process orienta-
tion led to the development of chemical engineering. Figure 1.1 shows the
process-oriented way of thinking with regard to the food, beverage, and waste
water treatment industries. The different bioreactors must be reduced to a few
basic types. Finally, general working principles are needed. It is necessary and
advantageous to universalize concepts, definitions, and nomenclature.
/
/
DESIGN
Bio/Technology
Biotechnology Abstracts (Derwent)
Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry
Biotechnology and Bioengineering
Biotechnology Laboratory
Biotechnology Letters
Biotechnology News
Biotechnology Newswatch
Biotechnology Progress
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Quarterly
Chemical Engineering Journal
Chemie-Ingenieur-Technik
Current Biotechnology Abstracts
Enzyme and Microbial Technology
European Journal of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
Forum Biotechnologie
Journal of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology
Journal of Biotechnology
Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
Journal of Fermentation Technology
Journal of Industrial Microbiology
Pascal Biotechnology-Bulletin Signaletique
Practical Biotechnology
Process Biochemistry
Swiss Biotech
Trends in Biotechnology
Review Series
Advances in Biochemical Engineering
Advances in Biotechnological Processes
Annual Reports on Fermentation Processes
Biotechnology Advances
Biotechnology and Bioengineering Symposia
Developments in Industrial Microbiology
Methods in Microbiology
Progress in Industrial Microbiology
The process orientation ofthis book is illustrated by a comparison between
chemical processes and bioprocesses such as simple fermentation or waste
water treatment as a case of complex fermentation process from a process
engineering viewpoint (Table 1.1). The advantages and disadvantages of the
two processes are based on the characteristics of the catalysts. In comparison
with the usual chemical catalysts, enzyme catalysts are both highly active and
highly selective. In the last decades, even more active chemical catalysts have
been developed; however, this has been costly. Since isolation and purification
of enzymes also have costs, enzymes in pure form are also not inexpensive.
1.2 Bioprocess Technology 9
Today, use of enzymes in the whole cell as the catalysts is preferred; in general,
fermentation technology is still the least costly option. In addition, catalyst
regeneration is easily attained through cell growth and division.
All of the facts noted in Table 1.1 result from the nature of the catalyst.
A quantitative treatment of the kinetics of biochemical-biological systems,
given hereinafter, will mirror these process engineering characteristics. Thus,
biological process kinetics will have fundamental formulas for processes of
growth and product accumulation which operate with a typically biological
optimum in a relatively narrow range of concentrations, pH and temperature.
The formulas must, of course, also take into account the metabolism, the
effects of the interaction between organism and environment, and the nutri-
tional requirements of the cell.
The process-engineering comparison between simple fermentation and a
complex bioprocess such as that used for waste water treatment, shown in
detail in Table 1.2, brings out the problems involved in quantifying practices
used in complex cases: multiple substrate kinetics operating in either sequential
or parallel form; mixed populations; dependence on pH and 'temperature; the
influence of homogeneous or heterogeneous reactor operation in discontin-
10 1. Introduction
FIGURE 1.4. Flow chart sheet of the strategy of bioprocess kinetic analysis for different
process situations: stationary/instationary, homogeneous/heterogeneous, differential!
integral, and true dynamic/balanced (frozen) reactor operation. rds, rate-determining
step; qss, quasi-steady-state, (From Moser, A. 1983.)
12 1. Introduction
ecological evaluation (F. Moser, 1981, 1983). This scientific strategy is most
helpful to analyze and synthetize the complex network of integrated phenom-
ena of biology and physics. As integration means more than summing-up, the
success of engineering design work depends on the elucidation of interactions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dechema (1974). Biotechnologie, Studie uber Forschung und Entwicklung. Bonn:
Bundesministerium fiir Forschung und Technologie.
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European Communities EUR 7105. Brussels (M. Cantley)
Hamer, G. (1985). Trends Biotechnol., 3, 73.
Hines, D.A. (1980). Enzyme Microb. Technol., 2, 327-329.
Moser, A. (1977). Habilitationsschrift, Technical University, Graz, Austria.
Moser, A. (1978). Erniihrung/Nutrit., 2, 505.
Moser, A. (1981). Bioprozesstechnik. Vienna and New York: Springer-Verlag.
Moser, A. (1982). Biotechnol. Lett., 4, 73.
Moser, F. (1981). Paper presented at 2nd World Conference of Chemical Engineering,
4-9 Oct., Montreal.
Moser, A. (1988). Trends in Biotechnology, Vol. 6, No.8, August.
Moser, F. (1983). Chern. Eng. (Lond), August/September, 13.
Popper, K.R. (1972). The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London: Hutchinson.
Popper, K.R. (1976). Die Logik der Forschung. 6th ed. Mohr Studienausgabe.
Rehm, H.J., and Reed, G. (eds.) (1982ff). Biotechnology-A Comprehensive Treatise.
Deerfield Beach, Fla. and Basel Vol. 1-8 Verlag Chemie Weinheim.
Reuss, M. (1977). Fort. Verfahrenstechnik, 15F, 549-566.
Ringpfeil, M. (1977). Chern. Tech., 29, 424-428.
Moo-Young, M. (ed.-in-chief) (1985). Comprehensive Biotechnology, Vol. 1-4, Oxford:
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