Bioreaction Engineering: A discipline striving for independence
Special Symposium - Biotechnology
Invited Session on Biotechnology: Honoring Prof. John Villadsen (S-3)
Keywords: Bioreactor, bio-industrial production, chemical reaction engineering
The bioreactor will always have a place at center-stage in any bio-industrial production. This can confidently be stated despite the fact that much of the economy of the process lies in the downstream processes (recombinant protein production) or in the preparation of the feed for the reaction (2nd generation ethanol production).
Consequently the teaching of bioreaction engineering has the same central role in the education of Biochemical Engineers as Chemical Reaction Engineering has in the education of “traditional” Chemical Engineers.
In Denmark, as indeed in most countries, the curriculum of the chemical engineering education is changing towards an education of Chemical and Biochemical Engineers, but within the same time frame (3 + 2 years) as was previously used in an education of either a chemical engineer or a bioscientist (biochemist or biologist).
Since the bioindustry cries out for more employees with a bio-engineering background (claiming, perhaps unjustly, that there are “enough” classical bioscientists around) the Technical University of Denmark expects to have a substantial input of BSc candidates from other universities who want to supplement a traditional bioscience education with “the right” courses offered by the leading appplied science university of the country.
This puts a great deal of responsibility on the faculty of the DTU, and especially on the faculties of the two very large departments of Biotechnology (“BioCenter-DTU”) and Chemical Engineering. Surely, Bioreaction Engineering cannot be taught in an extended sequence of courses (a generation ago one would hardly notice “bio-reaction” in comparison with “chemical reaction” as applied in the whole of the chemical industry).
But we see things differently today: The discipline of bio-reaction engineering encompasses topics as far removed as the kinetics of drug uptake by tissue, identification and manipulation of cellular pathways to steer the carbon flux towards the right product, and the liquefaction of agricultural waste as a preliminary step in the bio-refinery. Biochemistry, some biology, and a large portion of engineering (more “good sense” than heavy math) must work together to produce the desired result: A candidate who can help industry understand what takes place in the 400 m3 bioreactor and to design the whole industrial process in an optimal way.
Based on the experience of the author who has taught Chemical Reaction Engineering as well as Bioreaction Engineering for a good many years one really wants to sit down with colleagues, not only from Danish universities, but from universities in Europe as well as from countries across the oceans-to discuss the proper use of one or two 60 hour courses in Bioreaction Engineering. The industrial scene as well as the “culture” of the education may vary from country to country, but certain topics will inevitably have to be included, since they are common to all applications, and also because they will be recognized as “classical” chemical engineering disciplines” and therefore readily accepted as also amplifiying the subjects taught in “reaction engineeering for the petro-chemical industry”
The lecture will attempt to classify the first priority topics of a Bioreaction Engineering course, and the lecture will be illustrated by some examples used by the author to catch the attention of students from both chemical engineering and from biochemistry/biology, and to convince them that quantitative treatment of bioreactions leads to fascinating results-often of direct interest to industrial production.
Presented Wednesday 19, 17:00 to 17:30, in session Invited Session on Biotechnology: Honoring Prof. John Villadsen (S-3).
