Industrial Scale Antibiotic Production: Process Kinetic Analysis and Process Design

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to illustrate the systematic approach in bioprocess analysis and design in industrial scale production by applying the strategy described in lecture 1 (i.e. the “formal macroapproach” as a holistic mode of thinking & working). Thereby, it is essential that mathematical modeling, computer simulation and experimental work is seen as an entirety of joint efforts where accuracy is reduced to an engineering level in accordance with models as approximations. Batch processes in 1501 bioreactors are kinetically analyzed resulting in characteristics of repression of product formation and inhibition of growth due to concentrations of substrate and product. Optimization of fed-batch processes using simulations based on this data result in feeding strategies with optimum values for productivity yield and product concentration. Finally, a generalization seems possible: the flux of substrate (q_s), internal in the cell, is the process limiting step as a consequence of respiration as the true bottleneck in cell metabolism.