11248 - Biotechnological Plants

Learning outcomes

The purpose of this course is to present and discuss the main tools for the understanding of the performance of equipment and plants in the biochemical and bioprocess industry. Both the general structure of a plant and selected units operations and bioreactors typical of biotechnological processes are covered in order to provide skills for a quantitative, though simplified, prediction of their behaviour.

Course contents

Introduction to the Bio-based Economy: new building blocks for the chemical industry derived from biomass.

Biologically relevant kinetics: Monod model and an overview of more complex kinetic models (structured and segregated models). Operating modes and performance analysis of bioreactors: continuous, batch, and semi-continuous (fed-batch) systems. Configurations, characteristics, and operating principles of stirred bioreactors. Bioreactor operation and conversion-related issues. Introduction to immobilized biomass bioreactors.

Numerical methods for solving design, rating, and control problems in bioreactors.

Readings/Bibliography

Pauline M. Doran – Bioprocess Engineering Principles – Second Edition, Academic Press, 2013.

C. Gostoli, Trasporto di materia con elementi di reattoristica chimica e biochimica, Pitagora Editrice, Bologna, 2011.

H.S. Fogler, Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, 2a edizione, Prentice-Hall International Inc., 1995.

O. Levenspiel, Chemical Reaction Engineering, 3a edizione, J.Wiley & Sons, 1999.

Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., Wastewater Engineering - Treatment and Reuse, 4a edizione, McGraw Hill, 2003.

R.G. Harrison, P. Todd, S. Rudge and D. Petrides, Bioseparations Science and Engineering, Oxford U. Press, NY, 2003.

[Though warmly recommended to the students for widening their knowledge of the various topics, these books are neither formally adopted as textbooks nor followed in any detailed way].

Teaching methods

Lectures and classroom exercises.

Numerical exercises using a spreadsheet.

During the lectures, the topics listed above are presented and discussed.

 

Assessment methods

The final exam is intended to assess the achievement of the main learning objectives:

• the ability to apply the analytical and computational tools covered during lectures and exercises to understand the functioning of equipment and the principles underlying design, as well as the chemical and physical phenomena occurring in process systems and apparatus;

• the ability to use the obtained results to improve the operation of biotechnological plants.

Learning is assessed through an oral examination, during which the solution to an exercise is developed—possibly with the aid of a spreadsheet.

The oral exam, graded on a thirty-point scale, aims to verify the acquisition of the knowledge outlined in the course program.

Teaching tools

Video projector, PC, blackboard. Syllabus, tables, plots and text of exercise: distributed in class during the course.

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Davide Pinelli