Content (Syllabus outline)

The structure of the laboratory, pilot and industrial process, differences and similarities.

Bioreactor types and their design. Transport phenomena. Physical and physiological criteria for procedure transfer to larger scale (scale-up). Scale-down. Scale-up criteria: their meaning and application. Design of laboratory and industrial bioreactors with respect to the type of microorganism or type of cell lines. Description of metabolism based on element and energy balances. Stationary and non-stationary heat and mass transfer in biotechnological processes.

Basic approaches in downstream processes in biotechnology considering the nature/properties of bioproduct, quality and quantity of the target product, and process economics. Overview of the early stages in product isolation, separation of intracellular and extracellular products. Application of organic solvents. Different approaches in late stages of product isolation and formulation with special emphasis on membrane and chromatographic processes. Application of membrane methods at the early or late stages of isolation processes. Advanced chromatographic methods in separation of small molecules (MW below 2000 Da), and biopharmaceutical products most often being proteins. Comparison of analytical and preparative chromatographic processes. Column chromatography basics – types of separation methods, types of mobile and stationary phases. Basic parameters such as resolution, partition coefficient, selectivity, efficiency and column capacity. Adsorption equilibrium and mass transfer. Batch and continuous chromatography. Elution methods. Process development of chromatographic method.  Transfer of the chromatographic downstream processes to the large scale (scale up). Optimisation of chromatographic separations. Overview of the selected industrial downstream processes (case studies).

Prerequisites

Requirements for enrolment:

  • The condition for inclusion is an entry in the academic year.


Terms of Prerequisites:

Completed practicals and test on practicals.