Biochemical Engineering

The focus of this course will be on building the chemical and biological engineering principles taught in the earlier years of the degree. This will provide a deeper insight into the biochemical processes and the biotechnology industry.

This course will include lectures to introduce biosystems and bioprocesses and to develop a strategy towards their engineering analysis. Prior knowledge of calculus and chemical engineering is required.

The contents included in the Official Guide of the Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering Graduate will be developed:

“Biotechnology and biochemical engineering. Biology of cells and microorganisms of industrial interest. Types of enzymes and microorganisms. Microbial and enzymatic kinetics. Fundamentals of design and analysis of biological reactors. Mass transfer, heat transport, and application of balances to microbial systems. Sterilisation. Biotechnological processes.”

The contents of the course are structured in the following seven units:

Unit 1. Introduction to Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering
Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering. Basic definitions. Applications. Description of industrial bioprocesses.

Unit 2. Fundamentals of microbiology and biochemistry
Microorganisms in Biology. Concept of cell and types of cellular organisation. Prokaryotes - morphology and basic structure. Eukaryotes - structural characteristics (mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, nucleus, cell membrane). Genetic engineering. Cloning. Recombinant DNA formation. Biotechnology products obtained from Genetic Engineering.

Unit 3. Enzyme kinetics
Enzyme characteristics and types. Enzyme kinetics. Michaelis-Menten model. Inhibition. Modification of enzyme activity. Enzyme immobilisation. Applications.

Unit 4. Microbial kinetics
Cell culture. Microbial growth. Environmental factors. Classification and models for microbial growth. Monod model. Inhibition. Immobilisation.

Unit 5. Bioreactor design
Basic concepts for bioreactor design. Mass and energy balances. Stirred tank reactors: batch, fed-batch and continuous operation. Plug-flow reactors. Aeration. Agitation. Sterilisation.

Unit 6. Non-conventional bioreactors
Description of the characteristics and operation of the main non-conventional bioreactors: fixed bed, fluidised bed, air-lift, membrane bioreactors, photobioreactors, biphasic bioreactors…

Unit 7. Separation processes in bioprocesses
General characteristics. Biomass separation. Cell disruption. Membrane-based separations. Extraction. Adsorption. Chromatography. Other separation and purification techniques. General considerations on separation sequences.

Basic bibliography:
- Gòdia Casablancas, F.; López Santín, J. Ingeniería Bioquímica, Ed. Síntesis, 1998. ISBN 84-7738-611-0. Library code: A160 1; 160 1
- Bailey, J.E.; Ollis, D.F. Biochemical engineering fundamentals, McGraw-Hill, 2n ed., 1986. ISBN 0-07-003212-2. Library code: 160 22

Complementary bibliography:
- Díaz, M. Ingeniería de bioprocesos, Paraninfo, 2012. ISBN: 9788428381239. Library code: 160 24
- Atkinson, B.; Mavituna, F. Biochemical engineering and biotechnology handbook, The Nature Press, 1985. ISBN:0-333-33274-1. Library code: 160 14
- Aiba, S.; Humphrey, A.E.; Millis, N.F. Biochemical engineering, Academic Press, 2nd ed., 1973. ISBN: 0-12-045052-6. Library code: 160 15
- Najafpour, G. Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Elsevier, 2nd ed., 2015. ISBN: 978-0-444-63357-6. Available as an electronic resource.

Specific skills:
* (CQ.1.2) Knowledge on biotechnology.
* (CQ.1.4) Chemical reaction engineering.
* (CQ.2.1) Capacity for the analysis and design of processes and products.

General skills:
* (CG.3) Knowledge of basic and technological subjects, that enable the students to learn new methods and theories, and that provide them with versatility for adapting to new situations.
* (CG.4) Capacity to solve problems with initiative, decision making, creativity, and critical thinking; and to communicate and disseminate knowledge, abilities and skills in the field of industrial chemical engineering.

Transferable skills:
* (CT.3) Communication, both oral and written, in native language as well as in some foreign language.
* (CT.6) Problem solving.
* (CT.8) Team working.
* (CT.11) Capacity to communicate with experts from other knowledge fields.
* (CT.19) Independent learning.

Regarding skills CQ.1.2, CG.3 and CG.4, safety principles will be applied in the study of certain topics (examples: sterilisation, biological risks).

The teaching of the theoretical contents will be performed via master lectures where the contents will be explained and justified. The instructor will publish in the area for online materials and resources of the course in the virtual learning environment (Moodle platform) all the information regarding the units that will be developed along the semester. All the students enrolled in this course have free access to the online materials and resources. Questions regarding key aspects will be raised by the instructor to stimulate lively discussions in the class, with the goal of promoting learning and active participation in the classroom.
The seminars will consist of problem solving. The students will actively solve some of the problems. In these sessions, an ongoing dialogue with the students on various theoretical and practical aspects will be established to maximize the training output. The spreadsheet used for the solution of problems will be mainly Excel.
The skills to developed during each activity are summarized in the following Table:
_________________General skills__________Transferable skills___________Specific skills
Seminar: ____________CG3, CG4_______________CT6, CT19___________________CQ1.2, CQ1.4, CQ2.1
Master lecture: _____CG3, CG4_______________CT19________________________CQ1.2, CQ1.4
Group tutorials: _______ CG3___________________CT3, CT8____________________CQ2.1

The students must develop a work in group in the group tutorials. The works will have to be subsequently presented orally. In this way, the skills CG.3, CT.3, CT.8 and CQ2.1 are covered.

A technical visit to an industrial plant of interest will be programmed, subjected to the availability of funds. Coordination with the course “Mass Transfer” will be sought in planning this technical visit. This activity pretends to specifically develop, among others, the skill CT.11.

Ongoing assessment of the learning process will be carried out by means of different assignments, which can be oral/written presentations of a topic, problem solving, team working, tests, etc., including the work of the group tutorial.
This ongoing assessment will establish the base for a first qualification, corresponding to 40 % of the final overall mark: 15 % the group tutorial and 25 % the rest.

The student will carry out a theoretical-practical exam at the end of the course, corresponding to 60 % of the final overall mark and containing both theoretical questions and problem solving (20 % and 40 % of the mark, respectively). A minimum overall mark of 5.0 on a basis of 10 will be needed to pass the course, with at least a minimum mark of 3.5 over 10 in the exam. For those students who achieve 5.0 points in the overall mark without achieving the minimum required in the exam, the final overall mark will become directly the mark of the exam.

The skills and the activities where they will be evaluated are summarized in the following Table:

_______________________General skills_____Transferable skills_______Specific skills
1. Seminars, upload of solved
individual exercises___________CG4__________CT6, CT19_____________CQ1.2, CQ1.4
2. Seminars
Questionnaire fill _________ CG3__________CT19_________________CQ1.2
3. Individal final exam________CG4__________CT3, CT6, CT19_________CQ1.2, CQ1.4, CQ2.1
4. Group tutorial_____________CG3__________CT8, CT3______________CQ2.1


If the course is not passed in the first call, the mark of the ongoing assessment (including the group tutorial) will be kept for the second call, so that only the exam will be repeated. As above, it will be necessary to obtain an overall mark of 5.0 on a basis of 10 to pass the course, and to have a minimum of 3.5 over 10 in the new exam. Partial marks (ongoing assessment, group tutorials…) are not kept from one academic year to another.

Students that participate in less than three of the proposed activities for the ongoing assessment will be graded as “Not-shown”.

In case of fraud activities was detected regarding the exam or any other material available, the norm “Normativa de avaliación do rendemento académico dos estudiantes e de revisión de cualificacións” will be applied.

The course has a workload of 4.5 ECTS, which represents an overall work load for the student of 4.5 x 25 = 112.5 h. The distribution of the personal work hours for each activity involved in the course is detailed below:

Activity......................Classroom.....Personal work....ECTS
Expositive lectures...........28.0…….........34.0...............2.5
Interactive lectures...........9.0..............11.0...............0.8
Group tutorials..................1.0...............4.0...............0.2
SUBTOTAL......................38.0..............49.0...............3.5
Individualised tutorials........1.0...............2.0...............0.1
Exam and revision..............5.0.............17.5...............0.9
TOTAL............................44.0.............68.5...............4.5

It is recommended that the students take simultaneously (or have already passed) the course on Chemical Reaction Engineering. It is also recommended that they have passed the course on Fundamentals of Chemical Processes.

There will be two groups in this course, using different instruction languages: one will be taught in Galician, and the other one in English.