Biochemical Engineering And It’s Applications

Project by Suraj Jagtap

Roll No. 11CHE1059

The ORIGIN of BIOCHEMISTRY

Biochemistry emerged as a separate discipline when scientists combined biology with organic, inorganic, or physical chemistry and began to study such topics as how living things obtain energy from food, the chemical basis of heredity, and what fundamental changes occur in disease.

Introduction

Biochemistry can be described as the science concerned with the chemical constituents of living cells and with the reactions and processes they undergo.

It includes the sciences of molecular biology, immunochemistry, neurochemistry, and bioinorganic, bioorganic, biotechnology and biophysical chemistry.

What is “BIOCHEMISTRY”?

Biology Chemistry BIO-

CHEMISTRY

Has wide range of Applications…

Enzyme Engineer

ing

Environment

Bio Reactors

Textile Industry

Bio medical

Food Sciences

Biotechnology

Agri culture

Beverage

Industry

Pharmacy Electri-

city

Biomass prodn

Bioinformatics

What do biochemical engineers do? They could…

Role of Biochemical Engineer

Work on a new kind of

fertilizer that will improve a farmer's crop

yield

Figure out how to grow large

batches of mammalian cells for use in cancer-

drug testing

Design the manufacturing

equipment needed to convert raw materials into

everyday products

Discover a method for improving medicines

Biochemical engineering is a branch of chemical engineering or biological engineering that mainly deals with the design and construction of unit processes that involve biological organisms or molecules

Biochemical engineers design the manufacturing equipment that is required to convert raw materials into the products; So many of the products that we use every day, from medicine and fertilizer to packaged foods, result from the hard work of a biochemical engineer.

A bioreactor is a reactor or a system that supports a biologically active environment. It is a vessel where the reaction is carried out in the presence of organisms.

They are used in waste water treatment plants, pollution controlling, fermentation industries, biofuel productions, tissue cloning bioreactors etc.

Bioreactor

Bioreactor design

Fermentation is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions.

Some of the Fermentation products

Yogurt, cheese, soy products, wine, beer, bread etc.

Fermentation

Common yeast saccharomyces cerevisae used in making wine, beer,

bread by above reaction.

C6H12O6 → 2 C2H5OH + 2 CO2

Reactions involved in fermentation

Fermenter

Role of Biochemical Engineer is very crucial in design of the fermenter.

They have to do lot of work in increasing the yield of the product and thus the efficiency.

For that they have to design the plant with considering the chemical properties like the reaction conditions, thermodynamic factors, quality and quantity of both the reactants and the products. And the biological factors as well.

Biochemistry and medicine are intimately related.

Biochemistry helps to understand the biochemical changes and related physiological change in the body.

Biochemistry deals with the functions and the role of vitamins and hormones so one can understand the problem during the treatment.

Useful for making the drugs more safe and more efficient.

Medicine

Cleanup of hazardous waste sites using bacteria that feed on pollutants

Bacteria used for bio-remediation

wastewater treatment

using biological activity now we can detect toxic substances in our atmosphere using biosensors

Environment

Water pollution is mainly because of some organic material discharged from industries into the water bodies.

Some bacteria eat the organic material present in the wastewater. The organic material is transformed into cellular mass, which can be precipitated at the bottom of a settling tank or retained as slime on solid surfaces in the system.

Wastewater treatment

In agriculture biochemistry plays a valuable role in farming, fishery, poultry, fertilizers and more.

Biochemistry gives an idea of how of hormones can modulate plant growth. e.g. some hormone promote growth, some promote flowering, fruit formation etc.

In fishery, use of substance to promote fish growth, their reproduction etc. can be understood.

Composition of fruit produced, their alteration or even adulteration can be found by biochemical tests.

Bio-insecticides for crop protection.

Agriculture

A biosensor is an analytical device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector. 1. The sensitive biological element: A biologically derived

material (e.g. microorganism, enzymes, antibodies) that interacts with the analyte under study.

2. The detector element: Transforms the signal resulting from the sensitive biological element.

Applications:

Glucose monitoring in diabetes patients

Detection of pesticides

Detection of pathogens

Biosensors

Algae fuel is an alternative to fossil fuel that uses algae as its source of natural deposits.

Characteristics: 1. Can be grown with minimal impact on fresh water resources.

2. Can be produced using ocean and wastewater.

3. Are biodegradable.

4. Relatively harmless to the environment if spilled.

5. Unlike fossil fuels CO2 is taken out of the atmosphere by algae.

Algae Fuel

MEC is the process to generate hydrogen or methane from organic material by applying an electric current.

Components: 1. Microorganisms are attached to the cathode.

2. Anode material can be carbon paper or graphite felt.

3. Platinum can be used as catalyst.

Hydrogen and Methane produced are best alternatives to fossil fuels in internal combustion engines or for power production.

Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC)

MEC

Biocatalysis is the use of natural catalysts, such as protein enzymes, to perform chemical transformations on organic compounds.

Characteristics:

1. Enzymes show Chemoselectivity, Enantioselectivity and Regioselectivity

2. Eco-friendly since biodegradable

3. Work under mild conditions so lesser side reactions and more yield.

Biocatalyst

Biocatalysis

Tissue Engineering:

Tissue cloning bioreactors are used.

These are the bioreactor that artificially grows tissue in cell cultures.

These reactors are useful in study of medical, pharmaceutical.

It can grow heart tissue, skeletal tissue, ligaments, cancer tissue for study, and other types of tissue.

Recent Inventions

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR):

PCR is a technique, which uses different sets of equipment in order to duplicate (amplify) one or few copies of DNA into millions of copies. It’s very sensitive and fast technology.

Uses:

Gene analysis

Diagnosis of certain disease

Recent Inventions

Double Bonus: Bacteria Eat Pollution, Generate Electricity:

Scientists have found some bacteria (Desulfitobacterium) who can produce electricity and reduce pollution simultaneously. They are the future hopes for the pollution problem.

These bacteria are most commonly known for their ability to breakdown and detoxify some of the most problematic environmental pollutants, including PCBs and some chemical solvents.

Recent Inventions

These bacteria are very diverse in their metabolic capabilities, including the food that they can consume. That means that these bacteria can convert a large number of different food sources into electricity and can also useful for reducing pollution. The technology could be used to assist in the reclamation of wastewaters, thereby resulting in the removal of waste and generation of electricity. As long as the bacteria are fed fuel they are able to produce electricity 24 hours a day. Still more research has to be done on this field to improve the efficiency.

Wikipedia

Harper’s Illustrated Biochemistry

Biochemical Engineering- James Lee

http://www.aboutbiochemistry.com

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science-engineering-careers/BioChem_biochemicalengineer_c001.shtml

References

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